Animals leave their footprints in several English words, including chatoyant, or “shimmering like a cat’s eyes” and sleuth, which is short for sleuth-hound, a kind of bloodhound used for sniffing out prey. Pets have also inspired...
We spoke on the show not long ago about how the phrase to keep something at bay derives from hunting. A listener wrote in with an evocative description of its origin, referring specifically to that period when cornered prey is able to keep predators...
Keeping something at bay comes from the baying sound that hunting dogs make when they’ve got their prey in a standoff. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Keeping At Bay” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is...
bagel n.— «Burak’s dog Memphis, a beagle-basset hound cross (or a bagel, as they are called) and for whom the store is named—drags a blanket in his mouth on the hardwood floor.» —“James North comes in from the cold” by Jon...
bascottie n.— «A basset hound had been bred with a Scottie to make a “bascottie,” pronounced like biscotti, the hard biscuit usually dunked in coffee.» —“24 animals are removed from Lodi home; officers say conditions...
potato n.— «Gator still has his potatoes.…He doesn’t like for us to call them testicles, so we call them potatoes.» —“Hound has a nose for south end of a northbound whale” by Robert McClure Post...