hide

verb

1. (transitive)To put (something) in a place where it will be out of sight or harder to discover.

   “He hides his magazines under the bed.”

   “The father hid the gift behind him.”

   “The politicians were accused of keeping information hidden from the public.”

   “1856, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part III Chapter XI, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling The blind man, whom he had not been able to cure with the pomade, had gone back to the hill of Bois-Guillaume, where he told the travellers of the vain attempt of the druggist, to such an extent, that Homais when he went to town hid himself behind the curtains of the "Hirondelle" to avoid meeting him.”

   “Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.”

2. (intransitive)To put oneself in a place where one will be out of sight or harder to find.

   “Nonetheless, some insect prey take advantage of clutter by hiding in it. Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.”

   “Baby, I know places we won't be found, and They'll be chasing their tails trying to track us down 'Cause I, I know places we can hide I know places”

3. To beat with a whip made from hide.

   “He ran last week, and he was hided, and he was out on the day before yesterday, and here he is once more, and he knows he's got to run and to be hided again.”

noun

1. (countable)The skin of an animal.
2. (derogatory, obsolete)The human skin.

   “O tiger's heart, wrapped in a woman's hide!”

3. (US, informal, metonymically, uncountable, usually)One's own life or personal safety, especially when in peril.

   “to save his own hide”

   “better watch his hide”

   “The rotter who simpers that he sees no difference between the power of money and the power of the whip, ought to learn the difference on his own hide—as I think he will.”

4. (countable)(mainly British) A covered structure from which hunters, birdwatchers, etc can observe animals without scaring them.

   “A Forest Trail and wild life hides lie 2 miles to the north-east. Blue hares, deer, wild geese, herons and duck can be discreetly observed from the hides.”

5. (countable)A secret room for hiding oneself or valuables; a hideaway.

   “In the early days of American settlement, hides were built into houses to provide protection from the Indians and to conceal merchandise from the threat of taxation or thievery.”

6. (countable)A covered structure to which a pet animal can retreat, as is recommended for snakes.
7. (historical)A unit of land and tax assessment of varying size, originally as intended to support one household with dependents.

   “The exact size of hides varied with soil quality, but each one generally encompassed 24 to 26 hectares.”