# hood

Pronunciation: say "HUUD" /hʊd/

## Noun

1. A head covering, typically attached to a larger garment such as a jacket or cloak.
   - Simple: A cover for the head that is usually part of a coat, jacket, or other clothing.
   - _He zipped up his parka and pulled the drawstrings on the hood tight against the wind._
   - _The monks filed into the chapel with their hoods drawn low over their faces._
2. The hinged cover over the engine of a car or other vehicle (the bonnet in British English); more broadly, a cover over the workings of something, as in under the hood.
   - Simple: A cover over the engine or working parts of something, as in looking under the hood.
   - _The car looks plain, but it has a powerful engine under the hood._
   - _He lifted the hood to check the oil before the long drive._
3. A neighborhood, especially a poor inner-city one where someone lives or grew up. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Slang for a neighborhood, often a poor part of a city.
   - _He still drives back to the hood every Sunday to visit his grandmother._
   - _Word around the hood is that the corner store is closing._
4. An enclosure that protects something, especially one that shields it from above.
   - Simple: A cover over or around something that keeps it safe, mostly from above.
   - _The old well was fitted with a slate hood to keep leaves and rain out of the water._
   - _Each streetlight sits under a metal hood that shields the bulb from snow._
5. A metal covering that leads to a vent and draws smoke or fumes away.
   - Simple: A metal cover joined to a vent that pulls smoke and fumes away.
   - _Students may open the solvent bottles only inside the hood, where the vent carries the fumes outside._
   - _The restaurant had to install a larger hood over its grills to meet the fire code._
7. A gangster or thug; a tough, violent criminal. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A tough, violent person who commits crimes, often as part of a gang.
   - _The movie follows a young hood who works his way up through the city's mob._
   - _Local hoods ran a protection racket out of the back of the bar._
9. An expansion on the sides of the neck found in many elapid snakes, such as the Egyptian cobra and the Indian cobra.
   - Simple: The wide part on the sides of the neck of cobras and many related snakes.
   - _When threatened, the Indian cobra raises its body and flares its hood._
   - _Photographers kept their distance as the cobra's hood swelled out on both sides of its neck._
10. The prepuce: the fold of skin covering the tip of the penis or the clitoris. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: The fold of skin that covers the tip of the penis or the clitoris.
   - _Her gynecologist checked the skin under the clitoral hood for signs of infection._
   - _At the piercing studio she asked whether a ring through the hood of her clitoris would hurt much._
12. A fold of cloth in distinctive colors that stands for a university degree.
   - Simple: A piece of colored cloth that shows what university degree a person has.
   - _His master's hood, lined in the university's crimson, hung over the back of his gown._
   - _Faculty members march in their gowns, each hood showing the field and school of the wearer's degree._
13. A covering placed over an animal's head, such as one that blocks a falcon's sight to keep it calm, or one that protects a horse's head and neck.
   - Simple: A cover put over an animal's head, like a falcon's or a horse's.
   - _The falconer slipped the hood back over the peregrine's head before carrying it to the truck._
   - _Once the hood came off, the falcon blinked at the bright sky and spread its wings._
14. The soft, folding roof of a convertible car or of a carriage. *(UK)*
   - Simple: The soft roof of a car or carriage that can be folded back.
   - _On sunny days she drives to the coast with the hood folded down and the wind in her hair._
   - _The canvas hoods on the vintage carriages had cracked along every fold._

## Verb

6. To place a hood over or on a person, animal, or object.
   - Simple: To put a hood over something.
   - _Falconers hood their birds so they stay calm while traveling._
   - _At the ceremony, her adviser hooded each new doctor in turn._
11. Of skin or soft tissue, to grow over the eyelid without covering the eye itself.
   - Simple: Of skin, to grow down over the eyelid without covering the eye.
   - _Many people get eyelid surgery when loose skin starts to hood over their upper lids._
   - _After years in the sun, the skin of his brow hooded, leaving his lids half hidden._
15. To project outward from something in the manner of a hood.
   - Simple: To stick out from something, the way a hood does.
   - _Wide eaves hood the porch and keep the front steps dry._
   - _A slab of granite hooded the cave entrance, sheltering it from the worst of the weather._

## Adjective

8. Relating to everyday life in the inner city, both its good and bad sides, and especially to people's attachment to and love for their neighborhoods. *(slang)*
   - Simple: About everyday life in inner-city neighborhoods, good and bad, and people's love for where they live.
   - _The film is a hood classic, funny and painful in equal measure, and full of love for the block._
   - _Her paintings capture hood life: barbecues on the stoop, sirens at night, and neighbors who look out for each other._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A person wearing a hoodie, a hooded sweatshirt.
- (noun) In the human hand, the expanded part of the extensor tendon that spreads over the metacarpophalangeal joint, the knuckle at the base of a finger.
- (noun) One of the endmost planks, or plank ends, in a ship's bottom at the bow or stern, where it fits into the rabbet.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4–6, 9–15** — Middle English hood and hod developed from Old English hōd, which descended from Proto-Germanic *hōdaz. The traditional explanation connects this form to Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- ("to cover"), but a different reconstruction has also been proposed. Dutch hoed and German Hut, both meaning "hat," are related.
**Meaning 7** — A shortened form of hoodlum.
**Meanings 3, 8** — A shortened form of neighborhood; compare nabe.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/hood (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).