Dictionary

bearhound en · NOUN

Etymology

From bear + hound.

Meanings

1. A dog used for bearbaiting or bear hunting.
   • "For his amusement John the Terrible used to order a number of people to be sewed up in bear-skins, and then torn to death by bear-hounds. For tearing prisoners to pieces he ordered the tops of several trees to be bent down so that they came together; the limbs of the unfortunate victim were fastened to these tops, each limb to a different tree. When they were thus tied up, the release of the trees performed the work intended by the cruel Czar." 1887, Thomas Wallace Knox, The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire, Chapter 11:

Forms