Pronounced: NIHD-uhr-ing, noun
Notes: Another good word to know
Yesterday’s word
The word hidebound means
- (of a domestic animal) having a dry skin lacking in pliancy and adhering closely to the underlying flesh
- having an inflexible or ultraconservative character
First usage
Our word came into English in the late 1500s
Background / Comments
As I noted, I know the second definition, but the first one is new to me. The first one is the original one – when the word started as hyde bounde, it meant cattle that had skin that clung to the skeleton, and thus could not be pinched, loosened, or worked with the fingers. Our word can be applied literally to people with tight skin, and soon acquired a figurative meaning of “stingy” or “miserly”. While this meaning has fallen out of use, a second figurative meaning (the second above) arose.
