hoods

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of hood.

   The falconers slipped leather hoods over the hawks' heads so the birds could not see.

   In summer the stable fits its horses with mesh hoods to keep the flies and sun off.

   Note

   The plural hides a transatlantic trap. In American and Canadian English, drivers lift the hoods of their cars to reach the engines; elsewhere those covers are bonnets, and in British English the hoods of convertibles are their soft tops. At a graduation, hoods are the colored folds that mark each degree. The same spelling is also the verb for covering something.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of hood.

   Between scenes, the stagehand hoods each lamp with black cloth.

   A heavy brow hoods his eyes and gives him a sleepy look.

   Note

   Mostly it takes an object: a falconer hoods a bird, and a ledge hoods a doorway when it juts out above it like a cowl. One use stands alone without an object, said of growth that spreads over the eyelid while leaving the eye itself clear. Either way, the form pairs with he, she, it or a singular noun.

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