- the hard part of the foot of some animals, for example horses
- The horse tossed its head and stamped its hooves nervously.
Oxford Collocations DictionaryHoof is used before these nouns:- beat
- horse
Word OriginOld English hōf, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoef and German Huf.
Idioms
See hoof in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryon the hoof
- meat that is sold, transported, etc. on the hoof is sold, etc. while the cow, sheep, etc. is still aliveTopics Farmingc2
- (British English, informal) if you do something on the hoof, you do it quickly and without giving it your full attention because you are doing something else at the same time
- I often have lunch on the hoof between two appointments.
- the consequences of making government policy on the hoof
Check pronunciation:
hoof