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[hoo f, hoof] /hʊf, huf/

noun, plural hoofs or hooves for 1, 2, 4; hoof for 3.
1.
the horny covering protecting the ends of the digits or encasing the foot in certain animals, as the ox and horse.
2.
the entire foot of a horse, donkey, etc.
3.
Older Use. a animal, especially one of a herd.
4.
Informal. the human foot.
verb (used with object)
5.
Slang. to walk (often followed by it):
Let’s hoof it to the supermarket.
verb (used without object)
6.
Slang. to dance, especially to tap-dance:
He’s been hoofing at the Palladium.
Idioms, plural hoof.
7.
on the hoof, (of livestock) not butchered; live:
The city youngsters were seeing lambs on the hoof for the first time.
/huːf/
noun (pl) hooves (huːvz), hoofs
1.

2.
the foot of an ungulate mammal
3.
a hoofed animal
4.
(facetious) a person’s foot
5.
on the hoof

verb
6.
(transitive) to kick or trample with the hoofs
7.
(slang) hoof it

n.

Old English hof “hoof,” from Proto-Germanic *hofaz (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian hof, Old Norse hofr, Danish hov, Dutch hoef, German Huf “hof”), from PIE *kop- “to beat, strike” (cf. Sanskrit saphah “hoof”). For spelling, see hood (n.1).
v.

“to walk” (hoof it), first attested 1640s, from hoof (n.); slang meaning “to dance” is 1920, American English (implied in hoofer). Related: Hoofed; hoofing.

noun

A foot: Take your goddam hoof the hell off my fender (1598+)

verb

Related Terms

shake a wicked calf

a cleft hoof as of neat cattle (Ex. 10:26; Ezek. 32:13); hence also of the horse, though not cloven (Isa. 5:28). The “parting of the hoof” is one of the distinctions between clean and unclean animals (Lev. 11:3; Deut. 14:7).