hoard

1 of 3

noun (1)

ˈhȯrd 

plural hoards

: a supply or fund stored up and often hidden away

a hoard of cash

hoard

2 of 3

verb

hoarded; hoarding; hoards

transitive verb

1

: to collect and often hide away a supply of : to accumulate a hoard (see hoard entry 1) of

hoarding food

2

: to keep (something, such as one's thoughts) to oneself

she hoarded her intention

—Virginia Woolf

the people outside disperse their affections, you hoard yours, you nurse them into intensity

—Joseph Conrad

intransitive verb

: to collect and often hide away a supply of something

specifically : to engage in compulsive hoarding

One thing people who hoard have in common is a skewed perceived value of possessions.

—My Edmonds News (Edmonds, Washington)

hoard

3 of 3

noun (2)

plural hoards

: a temporary board fence put around a building being erected or repaired : hoarding entry 2 sense 1

Synonyms

Noun (1)

• cache
• stash
• stockpile
• store

Verb

• cache
• lay away
• lay by
• lay in
• lay up
• put by
• salt away
• squirrel (away)
• stash
• stockpile
• store
• stow
• treasure

Examples of hoard in a Sentence

Noun (1)

a squirrel's hoard of nuts

keeps a hoard of empty yogurt containers in his basement workshop for storing whatnots

Verb

he's been hoarding empty yogurt containers all winter, with the intention of using them to start seedlings in the spring

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Is there anyone who hasn’t daydreamed of stumbling upon some lost and valuable find—a hoard of Roman coins sitting inches beneath our feet, a Fabergé egg nestling among a pile of junk at a yard sale, a lost canvas masterpiece hanging unnoticed on the wall of a charity store? —Chris Wheatley, Longreads, 3 Dec. 2024

Various sources note the Hoxne Hoard as the largest hoard of Roman treasure ever found in Britain. —Ashlyn Messier, Fox News, 9 Oct. 2024

Verb

Apparently, Leon’s been hoarding all the heat, and everybody strips out of their indoor winter wear to hear the rundown of this week’s case. —Sara Netzley, EW.com, 17 Dec. 2024

The blog post includes a list of technical tactics Tian allegedly used to hoard ByteDance’s computing resources for his own work. —Louise Matsakis, WIRED, 13 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1) and Verb

Middle English hord, from Old English; akin to Goth huzd treasure, Old English hȳdan to hide

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun (2)

1757, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing hoard

• word-hoard

Kids Definition

hoard

noun

ˈhō(ə)rd,

ˈhȯ(ə)rd

: a hidden supply or fund stored up

hoard verb

hoarder noun