sleuthhound
/ˈsluːθˌhaʊnd/
sleuthhound means A working dog who tracks or pursues e.g. a wanted criminal; a bloodhound formerly used in Scotland. It carries an Arena rating of 1655, earned across 82 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, sleuthhound ranks #253 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #584 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #675 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #1,834 of 17,163 for Funniest Words.
sleuthhound is pronounced /ˈsluːθˌhaʊnd/.
Why “sleuthhound” is a great word
SLEUTHHOUND — [Noun] A dog, especially a bloodhound, bred or trained to track by scent, or, by extension, a tenacious detective. From Middle English sluth hunde, from Old Norse slóð ("track, trail") + Old English hund ("dog, hound"). Unlike "detective" (a general term for an investigator) or "bloodhound" (which names a specific breed), "sleuthhound" marries the literal function of the animal with the figurative tenacity of the person, a word that retains the mud on its paws. It is the wet nose quivering over a crushed leaf in a damp forest, the unbroken concentration on a cold trail through city streets, and the single-minded persistence that sees not clues but a scent-path—the embodiment of a singular faith that every action leaves a trace, and every trace can be followed back to its source.
Etymology
From Middle English sluth hunde (and earlier as slodogge), from Old Norse slóð (“track”) + hound.
noun
- A working dog who tracks or pursues e.g. a wanted criminal; a bloodhound formerly used in Scotland.
- A detective; a sleuth.e.g.“And straightway the minions of the law led forth from their donjon keep one whom the sleuthhounds of justice had apprehended in consequence of information received.” — 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 310:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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