hide
Definitions
General English
- verb to put something where no one can see or find it
General Science
- noun the skin of a large animal
- noun a shelter where humans can stay hidden while watching birds or animals
Agriculture
- noun the skin of an animal, which is important commercially both in its raw state and as leather
Information & Library Science
- noun leather made from the skin of animals older than a calf, used for binding large-format books
Military
- noun a concealed location where a unit or sub-unit can rest or wait in reserve
- noun a hiding place used by guerrillas or terrorists to conceal weapons or explosives
Origin & History of “hide”
English has two words hide in current usage, probably from an identical Indo-European source. The verb, ‘conceal’ (OE), which has no living relatives among the Germanic languages, comes from a prehistoric west Germanic *khūdjan. this was derived from a base which probably also produced English hoard, huddle, and hut, and goes back to Indo-European *keudh-, source also of Greek keúthein ‘cover, hide’, Welsh cuddio ‘hide’, and Breton kuzat ‘hide’. Hide ‘skin’ (OE) and its Germanic relatives, German haut, Dutch huid, and Swedish and Danish hud, come ultimately from Indo-European *keut-, which also produced Latin cutis ‘skin’ (source of English cuticle (17th c.) and cutaneous (16th c.)) and Welsh cwd ‘scrotum’. The semantic link between the two hides is ‘covering’.
