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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A fine-grained whetstone for giving a keen edge to a cutting tool.
  2. n. A tool with a rotating abrasive tip for enlarging holes to precise dimensions.
  3. v. To sharpen on a fine-grained whetstone.
  4. v. To perfect or make more intense or effective: a speaker who honed her delivery by long practice.
  5. hone in To move or advance toward a target or goal: The missiles honed in on the military installation.
  6. hone in To direct one's attention; focus: The lawyer honed in on the gist of the plaintiff's testimony.
  7. v. Informal To whine or moan.
  8. v. Informal To hanker; yearn.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A stone used for sharpening instruments that require a delicate edge, and particularly for sharpening razors; an oilstone. A hone differs from a whetstone in being of finer grit and more compact texture. See honestone.
  2. n. A thin piece of dry and stale bread; also, an oil-cake.
  3. To rub and sharpen on or as on a hone: as, to hone a razor.
  4. To linger; delay.
  5. n. Delay; lingering.
  6. To pine; long; yearn; moan.
  7. To long for; crave.
  8. n. A kind of swelling in the cheek.
  9. n. A circular barrow or hill.
  10. A dialectal contraction of hosen, plural of hose.
  11. See och hone.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A sharpening stone composed of extra-fine grit used for removing the burr or curl from the blade of a razor or some other edge tool.
  2. n. A machine tool used in the manufacture of precision bores.
  3. v. To sharpen with a hone.
  4. v. To use a hone to produce a precision bore.
  5. v. To refine or master (a skill).
  6. v. To make more acute, intense, or effective.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To grumble; pine; lament; long.
  2. n. A kind of swelling in the cheek.
  3. n. A stone of a fine grit, or a slab, as of metal, covered with an abrading substance or powder, used for sharpening cutting instruments, and especially for setting razors; an oilstone.
  4. v. To sharpen on, or with, a hone; to rub on a hone in order to sharpen.
  5. v. to render more precise or more effective.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. sharpen with a hone
  2. n. a whetstone made of fine gritstone; used for sharpening razors
  3. v. make perfect or complete

Etymologies

  1. Middle English, from Old English hān, stone; see kō- in Indo-European roots. Hone in, alteration of home in.Obsolete French hoigner, from Old French, perhaps from hon, cry of discontent.

Examples

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Lists

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Comments

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  • larry_kunz Many authorities consider "hone in" to be incorrect usage. I know I do. My preference is "home in." Oct 26, 2010

  • yarb ...the bereaved Parnassian
    hones a canine tooth,
    sharpens a pencil.

    - Peter Reading, Minima, from Diplopic, 1983 Jun 30, 2008

‘hone’ has been looked up 2442 times, loved by 1 person, added to 21 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 7.