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Glite Dictionary
basset hound

basset hound

4 2.8
A dog with short legs, a long body, and long hanging ears bred to hunt by smell
  • noun
  • /ˈbæsɪt haʊnd/
translation icon : basset
  • We live a couple of miles west of town in the big white Victorian house on Lime Kiln Road, the one with the Christmas Tour of Homes sign out in front and the elderly basset hound sleeping under the front step.
  • droopy basset hound
  • old basset hound
  • basset hounds and dachshunds

Examples

  • Then Flo, our basset hound, came in and started barking her head off.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • And we're both crazy about basset hounds.

    The Sure Thing (1985)

  • I still miss my basset hound who left us four years ago, so I know how hard that loss can hit you.

    Blog text (24)

  • My basset hound, Lucy, had the guilty look as soon as I walked into the house.

    Blog text (18)

  • The commercial showed a basset hound sitting and staring hopefully through the glass door of an oven, inside which a juicy roast was baking.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • I never cherished the companionship of Lulu, our lively basset hound, until I got pregnant.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The kids, Jeff and Amie, own (that is, were given for Christmas) a basset hound named (by Jeff) Spliff, a word that his parents pretend they don't understand.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • A fringe of sandy hair circled his bald head like a tonsure, and his drooping jowls gave him the morose look of a basset hound.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • My friend has a playful basset hound that loves to chase after squirrels.

  • The basset hound sat quietly beside its owner during the long drive.

Synonyms

basset
vsbasset hound
11 5.5

A short-legged dog with long, droopy ears first bred for hunting

gives a more specific picture with a long body and drooping ears

How Fast

greyhound
46 2.4
beagle
23 1.3
basset hound
4 2.8

Surface Forms

basset hound singular
basset hounds plural

Morphology

basset + hound

The noun is directly compositional: 'basset' (a short‑legged, long‑eared hound) combined with 'hound' yields a specific type of hunting dog. The meaning is predictable from the constituents and follows a common breed+dog naming pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words would understand it.

Etymology

Basset hound gets its name from old French: bas means 'low' and -et means 'small', so the name shows a dog close to the ground. These dogs were bred to follow a smell with short legs and long, hanging ears, so today a basset hound means a short, low dog used to 'hunt by smell'.