I. ˈhō(ə)rd, ˈhȯ(ə)rd, ˈhōəd, ˈhȯ(ə)d noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English hord, from Old English; akin to Old High German hort treasure, Old Norse hodd, Gothic huzd treasure, Greek kysthos vulva, Old English hȳdan to hide — more at hide
1. : a collection or accumulation or amassment of something usually of special value or utility that is put aside for preservation of safekeeping or future use often in a greedy or miserly or otherwise unreasonable manner and that is often kept hidden or as if hidden : a supply or stock or fund of something that is stored up and closely and often jealously guarded
a hoard of money
a hoard of provisions
a hoard of facts
often : treasure
dug up a hoard of gold and jewels
a hoard of old coins
2. obsolete : the place where a hoard is kept : repository ; specifically obsolete : treasury
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English horden, from Old English hordian, from hord, n.
transitive verb
1. : to collect or accumulate or amass into a hoard : lay up a hoard of
hoard ing their money and refusing to make even reasonable expenditures
2. : to keep (as a desire) hidden and in reserve and allow to develop or become strengthened
she hoarded her intention — Virginia Woolf
the people outside disperse their affections, you hoard yours, you nurse them into intensity — Joseph Conrad
intransitive verb
: to lay up a hoard ; especially : to practice hoarding
Synonyms: see accumulate
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: alteration of earlier hourd, probably from French dialect, scaffold, scaffolding, from Old French hourt scaffold, scaffolding, platform, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German hurd hurdle — more at hurdle
: hoarding II 1