Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A neighborhood, usually in the inner city.
  • noun A hoodlum; a thug.
  • noun A rowdy or violent young person.
  • noun A loose pliable covering for the head and neck, often attached to a robe or jacket.
  • noun An ornamental draping of cloth hung from the shoulders of an academic or ecclesiastical robe.
  • noun A sack placed over the head of a falcon to keep it quiet.
  • noun A metal cover or cowl for a hearth or stove.
  • noun A carriage top.
  • noun The hinged metal lid over the engine of a motor vehicle.
  • noun Zoology A colored marking or an expanded part, such as a crest, on or near the head of an animal.
  • transitive verb To supply or cover with a hood.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A covering for the head, of soft or flexible material, as cloth, leather, or chain-mail (in a suit of armor), usually extending over the back of the neck and sometimes the shoulders, and often attached to a garment worn about the body: as, the hood of a monk; the hood of an academic gown. See also cut under camail.
  • noun In falconry, a covering for the entire head of a hawk.
  • noun A cover of a carriage for the protection of its occupants, made so that it can be folded or turned back, or removed.
  • noun Something that resembles a hood in form, position, or use, as the upper petal or sepal of certain flowers, a chimney-cowl, etc.; specifically, in zoology, a conformation of parts or an arrangement of color on or about the head, like or likened to a hood. See phrases under hooded.
  • noun The hooded seal, Cystophora cristata.
  • noun In ship-building, the foremost and aftermost planks of a ship's bottom, both inside and outside.
  • noun The rise in the quarter-deck which gives more head-room to the cabin.
  • noun A covering over a hatchway to protect the openingfrom the weather.
  • noun A projecting shelter-like canopy over an outer door, usually carried by corbels or brackets. See hoodmold.
  • noun A similar projecting member over a hearth, intended to direct the smoke inward toward the flue.
  • noun In modern ventilation, a projection above a range or furnace, intended to carry off the smell of cooking or noxious gases.
  • noun In chemical laboratories, a fixed appliance consisting of an inclosed and covered space within which offensive gases or vapors may be evolved and carried off by a connected flue without escaping into the room. It is usually provided with a sliding or hinged door in front for the introduction and removal of apparatus.
  • noun A curved cover for a machine or for any part of one.
  • noun The cover for a blacksmith's forge.
  • noun In electricity, a protecting cover, also sometimes serving as a reflector, placed over an are-lamp.
  • To cover the head of with a hood; furnish with a hood: as, to hood a falcon; to hood a chimney.
  • Hence To cover; hide; blind.
  • A suffix denoting ‘state, quality, character,’ as in childhood, boyhood, manhood, maidenhood, fatherhood, brotherhood, sisterhood, knighthood, priesthood, Godhood, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun colloq. Same as hoodlum.
  • noun slang Same as neighborhood.
  • transitive verb To cover with a hood; to furnish with a hood or hood-shaped appendage.
  • transitive verb To cover; to hide; to blind.
  • transitive verb (Shipbuilding) the end of a hood where it enters the rabbet in the stem post or stern post.
  • noun obsolete State; condition.
  • noun A covering or garment for the head or the head and shoulders, often attached to the body garment.
  • noun A soft covering for the head, worn by women, which leaves only the face exposed.
  • noun A part of a monk's outer garment, with which he covers his head; a cowl.
  • noun A like appendage to a cloak or loose overcoat, that may be drawn up over the head at pleasure.
  • noun An ornamental fold at the back of an academic gown or ecclesiastical vestment.
  • noun A covering for a horse's head.
  • noun (Falconry) A covering for a hawk's head and eyes. See Illust. of Falcon.
  • noun Anything resembling a hood in form or use.
  • noun The top or head of a carriage.
  • noun A chimney top, often contrived to secure a constant draught by turning with the wind.
  • noun A projecting cover above a hearth, forming the upper part of the fireplace, and confining the smoke to the flue.
  • noun The top of a pump.
  • noun (Ord.) A covering for a mortar.
  • noun (Bot.) The hood-shaped upper petal of some flowers, as of monkshood; -- called also helmet.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[African American Vernacular English, short for neighborhood.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for hoodlum.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English hod, from Old English hōd.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English, from Old English hōd, from Proto-Germanic *hōdaz (compare West Frisian/Dutch hoed, German Hut), from Sarmato-Scythian *xauda 'hat' (compare Avestan xaoda, Old Persian xaudā), from Proto-Indo-European *kadh- 'to cover'. More at hat.

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Examples

  • The results of this ongoing effort will be largely invisible, and mostly for my own benefit -- some of the internals were written in such haste that now, months or years later, what's going on under the hood is a little hazy, even to me.

    Getting Back on the Bike 2009

  • The results of this ongoing effort will be largely invisible, and mostly for my own benefit -- some of the internals were written in such haste that now, months or years later, what's going on under the hood is a little hazy, even to me.

    Getting Back on the Bike 2009

  • The results of this ongoing effort will be largely invisible, and mostly for my own benefit -- some of the internals were written in such haste that now, months or years later, what's going on under the hood is a little hazy, even to me.

    Getting Back on the Bike 2009

  • Now the hood is about half open and the engine is missing and the tires are old and cracked and need to be replaced.

    Augustine Committee Meets at MSFC Today - NASA Watch 2009

  • The results of this ongoing effort will be largely invisible, and mostly for my own benefit -- some of the internals were written in such haste that now, months or years later, what's going on under the hood is a little hazy, even to me.

    Archive 2009-03-01 2009

  • Under the hood is a conical burr grinder, the best mechanism for grinding coffee beans.

    Get Thee A Sustainable Coffee Grinder « PubliCola 2010

  • The results of this ongoing effort will be largely invisible, and mostly for my own benefit -- some of the internals were written in such haste that now, months or years later, what's going on under the hood is a little hazy, even to me.

    Getting Back on the Bike 2009

  • The results of this ongoing effort will be largely invisible, and mostly for my own benefit -- some of the internals were written in such haste that now, months or years later, what's going on under the hood is a little hazy, even to me.

    Getting Back on the Bike 2009

  • I had to buy a new game version just to keep up with the new Windows (Curse you Bill Gates!) — so why with 10 times as much fire power under the hood is the new game less fun and less functional than the old one?

    Gaming gripes: Pet peeves aplenty | Sync Blog 2007

  • Teenagers making out on the hood is a classic image of the link between sex and automobiles that has become a permanent part of the American consciousness, but it's also an image that's always led me to ask, "Wouldn't the windshield wipers be uncomfortable?"

    Movie Review: Transformers 2007

Comments

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  • They must talk about criminals a lot in Princeton.

    September 8, 2009

  • Hmm...and it seems like such a pleasant, safe town.

    September 9, 2009

  • The "hood" meaning hoodlum is pronounced like the first syllable of hoodlum in Chicago where the designation "Hood" was early (20s) used. Rhymes with food.

    July 21, 2013