sleuthhound
noun/ˈsluːθˌhaʊnd/
Etymology From Middle English sluth hunde (and earlier as slodogge), from Old Norse slóð (“track”) + hound.
1
A working dog who tracks or pursues e.g. a wanted criminal; a bloodhound formerly used in Scotland.
- Sometimes he pursued the wily burn trout with relentless ferocity and the silent intentness of a sleuthhound. Often, however, he would pause and with his finger indicate some favourite stone to Winsome.1894, S. R. Crockett, The Lilac Sunbonnet:
2
Informal A detective; a sleuth.
- And straightway the minions of the law led forth from their donjon keep one whom the sleuthhounds of justice had apprehended in consequence of information received.1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 310:
- Of course, that may be an accident and couldn't possibly be called a case against anybody; but then we haven't the means to make a real case against anybody. Till the police come we are only a pack of very amateur sleuthhounds.1922, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, chapter 6, in The Man Who Knew Too Much:
- Derived terms
- sleuth