cowhide

English

Etymology

cow +‎ hide

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

cowhide (countable and uncountable, plural cowhides)

1. (countable) A hide of a cow.
2. (uncountable) Any quantity of hides of cows.
3. (uncountable) Leather made from the hide of cows.
4. A coarse whip made of untanned leather.
   • 1979, Octavia Butler, Kindred:

     “Luke did his work,” I said. “How could your father sell him?”
     “He worked all right. And the hands would work hard for him—mostly without the cowhide. But sometimes he didn't show much sense.”

Coordinate terms

• horsehide
• sheepskin
• kidskin

Translations

hide of a cow

• Finnish: lehmäntalja
• French: cuir de vache m
• Spanish: cuero vacuno

quantity of hides of cows

• Finnish: lehmäntaljat pl

leather

• Finnish: lehmännahka

coarse whip

Verb

cowhide (third-person singular simple present cowhides, present participle cowhiding, simple past and past participle cowhided)

1. (transitive) To flog with a cowhide.