DictionaryAI

hie

HY/haɪ/

Formshies, hying, hied

3 meanings of hie

Practice

  1. 1
    verbliteraryreflexivetransitive
    To go quickly; to hurry, often used with oneself, as in 'hie yourself home'.

    You should hie yourself to the station before the last train leaves.

    He hied himself upstairs at the sound of his mother's voice.

    UsageOlder writing uses him, thee and so on instead of himself, thyself: hie thee home.

    Similarhasten, hurry, rush

    Note

    The reflexive use comes in two shapes. Shakespeare writes "My husband hies him home," using the plain pronoun him as the reflexive, an older English habit. The -self form appears too, as in O. Henry's collection The Four Million (1906), where Southerners "hie themselves to cafés."

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Shakespeare wrote the quoted words; Helena speaks them in All’s Well That Ends Well, Act IV, scene iv. firstfolio.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
    • Using an object pronoun reflexively is an older English practice. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Four Million is O. Henry’s collection, first published in 1906. en.wikipedia.org
    • The collection contains the quoted reflexive wording about Southerners, in the narration of A Cosmopolite in a Café. en.wikisource.org

Less common meanings

  1. 2
    interjectiondialectal
    Called out to a working horse as a signal to turn left.
  2. 3
    verbdialectal
    To direct a working horse to turn left by calling out the command "hie" to it.

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Origin

From Middle English hien, from Old English hīgian ("to hie, hasten, strive"), going back through Proto-Germanic *hīgōną ("to breathe, snort") to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "swift, fierce." It is related to Dutch hijgen ("to pant") and German heichen ("to gasp"), and perhaps to Latin cieō ("set in motion") and Ancient Greek κινέω (kinéō, "to move").

Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

  • Hie descends through Middle English hien and Old English hīgian from Proto-Germanic *hīgōną and a Proto-Indo-European root glossed "swift, fierce". en.wiktionary.org
  • Dutch hijgen and German heichen are related to hie and have the stated meanings. en.wiktionary.org
  • Latin cieō means "set in motion". en.wiktionary.org
  • Ancient Greek κινέω means "to move". en.wiktionary.org