noun
hoof
huuf
noun
1
The hard covering on the foot of animals such as horses, cattle, and deer.
"The horse's hoof needed to be trimmed by the farrier."
verb
1
Informal: to walk, especially over some distance.
"We had to hoof it three miles back to the car."
How to Use Hoof
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe tough foot-covering of horses and similar animals; informally, to walk somewhere.
Common pairings
hoof it
horse's hoof
cloven hoof
Word Forms
hoofed past tense, hooves plural, hoofs plural, hoofs singular
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Etymology
From Old English hōf, an ancient Germanic word for the same body part, related to similar words across Indo-European languages for "hoof" or "claw."