DictionaryAI

hood

HUUD/hʊd/

Pluralhoods

Verbhoods, hooding, hooded

18 meanings of hood

Practice

  1. 1
    part of clothingnouncountable
    A cover for the head that is usually part of a coat, jacket, or other clothing.

    It started to rain, so she pulled her hood up over her head.

    The baby's winter coat has a hood with little bear ears on top.

    UsageYou pull your hood up to cover your head and push it down later.

    Similarcowl

    Note
  2. 2
    machine covernouncountable
    A cover over the engine or working parts of something, as in looking under the hood.

    He lifted the hood on the boat's engine to see why it was smoking.

    The game looks easy, but a lot is happening under the hood.

    UsageIn British English, the cover over a car engine is usually the bonnet.

    Note
  3. 3
    nounslangcountable
    Slang for a neighborhood, often a poor part of a city.

    I'm going back to the hood this weekend to see my old friends.

    Everybody in the hood knows her mom's cooking.

    UsageUsually say the hood: back in the hood.

    Similarneighborhood

    Note
  4. 4
    protective covernouncountable
    A cover over or around something that keeps it safe, mostly from above.

    A small wooden hood over the front door keeps the rain off visitors.

    The camera has a plastic hood that shades the lens from the sun.

    Similarcover, canopy

  5. 5
    smoke ventnouncountable
    A metal cover joined to a vent that pulls smoke and fumes away.

    In the workshop, a big hood over the paint table pulls the fumes outside.

    The hood above the stove pulls the smoke out of the kitchen.

  6. 6
    verbtransitive
    To put a hood over something.

    Workers hood the parking meters when the street is closed for a parade.

    She hooded the hawk before the long car ride.

    Oppositeunhood

    Note
  7. 7
    gangsternounslangcountable
    A tough, violent person who commits crimes, often as part of a gang.

    Two hoods broke into the store and took the cash.

    He was just a small-time hood who stole cars for a living.

    UsageA hood can mean a criminal. The hood usually means a neighborhood.

    Similarthug, gangster, hoodlum, mobster, crook

    Note
  8. 8
    street cultureadjectiveslang
    About everyday life in inner-city neighborhoods, good and bad, and people's love for where they live.

    We watched a hood movie about kids growing up on the same block.

    The song is full of hood stories about friends, family, and the corner store.

    UsageUsually used before a noun: hood life, a hood movie.

  9. 9
    snake necknouncountable
    The wide part on the sides of the neck of cobras and many related snakes.

    The cobra spread its hood and hissed at the dog.

    You can see two dark spots on the back of the snake's hood.

    UsageA cobra spreads or raises its hood.

    Note
  10. 10
    skin foldnouncolloquialcountable
    The fold of skin that covers the tip of the penis or the clitoris.

    Her doctor said the itching around her clitoral hood came from a new soap.

    When you wash, gently pull back the clitoral hood and rinse with water.

    UsagePeople usually say clitoral hood. For the penis, the usual word is foreskin.

    Similarprepuce, foreskin

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of hood apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–2, 4–6, 9–15

From Old English hōd. It is traditionally traced to a very old root meaning “to cover,” though not all scholars accept that link.

Meaning 7

Short for hoodlum.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

Meanings 3, 8

Short for neighborhood.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact