sleuthhound

See also: sleuth-hound

English

Alternative forms

• sleuth-hound, slot-hound, slothound

Etymology

From Middle English [Term?], from Old Norse slóð (“track”) +‎ hound.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsluːθ.haʊnd/

Noun

sleuthhound (plural sleuthhounds)

1. A working dog who tracks or pursues e.g. a wanted criminal; a bloodhound formerly used in Scotland.
   • 1894, S. R. Crockett, The Lilac Sunbonnet:

     Sometimes he pursued the wily burn trout with relentless ferocity and the silent intentness of a sleuthhound. Often, however, he would pause and with his finger indicate some favourite stone to Winsome.

2. (informal) A detective; a sleuth.
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 310:

     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, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, chapter 6, in The Man Who Knew Too Much:

     Of course, that may be an accident and couldn't possibly be called a case against anybody; but then we haven't the means to make a real case against anybody. Till the police come we are only a pack of very amateur sleuthhounds.

Derived terms

• sleuth