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Glossary

 

Account for  - To  run quarry to earth, or in rare cases, to kill 


All on -  Every hound in the pack being hunted is present 


At fault - When hounds have lost the scent, they are said to be "at fault" 


Babble - To give tongue for no reason 


Bitch - Female hound 


Carry a line - To follow the scent well 


Cast - Attempt to find or recover scent; the circle hounds make to recover the line 


Check - A temporary pause in running a line while the hounds regain the scent 


Couple - Two hounds. Hounds are counted in couples. A nine and a half couple pack consist of nineteen hounds. Also, the fitting used to join two hounds together for training purposes. 


Cry - Voice of a hound when on a line, as in "full cry" 


Cur dog - Any dog met in the field which is not part of the hunting pack


Dog - Male hound 


Draft - Hound passed from one pack to another 


Draw - To send hounds into a covert or field to seek a quarry 


Earth - A burrow or hollow into which a quarry may run 


Enter - To initiate young hounds into hunting 


Entry - The new hounds brought into a pack, as in "young entry" 


Feather - A hound waving his stern when not sure enough to open on a line is said to be "feathering" 


Field - Those who follow the hounds, other than the master and staff 


Find - When hounds first wind the scent of the quarry and open on it they are said to "find" 


Foil - A scent obliterating that of the quarry 


Full cry  - All hounds giving tongue on a line 


Give best - A rabbit which successfully eludes the hounds and is no longer pursued is said to have "given best" 


Give tongue - Hounds noisily pursuing a quarry are said to "give tongue" 


Gone away - Hounds in full pursuit of the quarry, giving tongue in full cry, are said to have "gone away;" also the characteristic doubling of the horn by the huntsman to encourage the hounds and tell the field that they have gone away 


Gone to ground - When the quarry goes into the earth, it has "gone to ground;" also the quavering note on the horn which the huntsman blows to tell the field that the quarry has gone to ground. A hunted quarry which goes to ground is "accounted for" 


Hark - Command for hounds to honor a hound giving tongue, as in "hark to Klondike;" also a command to the field for silence in order to hear 


Hold hard - Warning to the field to stop and not come close to the hounds 


Holloa - A shout to indicate that a whip or one of the field has seen the quarry 


Honor - When hounds join another who presumably has found, they are said to "honor" that hound 


Lift - To "lift" the hounds is to take them off the line they are hunting 


Line - The trail of the quarry laid down by its scent 


Mute - A hound working a line without giving tongue 


Open - When hounds begin to give tongue, they are said to "open" on a line 


Pack up - A command to hounds to come together and form a tight pack 


Rate - To chastise hounds by word and/or whip 


Riot - To hunt anything but the intended quarry, as in "the hounds rioted on deer" 


Stern - The tail of a hound 

 

Stirrup cup - The traditional drink, usually port or sherry, served at the meet 


Tally ho - A holloa indicating that the quarry has been viewed 


Venery (Venerie) - The art or practice of hunting, the sports of the chase 


View - To see the quarry, when appropriate accompanied by a halloa, as in the song "John Peel:" ... "his view halloa could waken the dead, or a fox from his lair in the morning." 


'Ware Charlie - A cry used to warn the staff of the presence of a fox (as in Charles Fox, famous British politician during the fashionable rise of foxhunting) 


'Ware cur dog - A cry used to indicate to the staff the presence of a non-hunting dog 


'Ware haunch 

A cry used to indicate to the staff the presence of deer 


'Ware heel 

A warning to the hounds that they are working the line backwards 


'Ware wing - A cry used to indicate to the staff the presence of birds 


Wind - To smell a scent 


Working a line - -Following a scent 


 

-- Frederic B. Underwood, MB
 

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