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A slender, graceful breed of dogs, remarkable for keen sight and swiftness. It is one of the oldest varieties known, and is figured on the Egyptian monuments. [Written also grayhound.]

ucks; now rarely applied to persons, except familiarly or with some contempt. "A brace of greyhounds." Shak. He is said to have shot . . . fifty brace of pheasants. Addison. A brace of brethren, both bishops, both eminent for learning and religion, now appeared in the church. Fuller. But you, my brace of lords. Shak.…

e characteristics by inheritance. Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed. Shak. Greyhounds of the best breed. Carpenter.

A rough-haired East Indian variety of the greyhound.

To cause to chase after or pursue game; as, to course greyhounds after deer.

One who courses or hunts. leash is a leathern thong by which . . . a courser leads his greyhound. Hanmer.

with dogs that follow by sight instead of by scent. In coursing of a deer, or hart, with greyhounds. Bacon

, a rudimentary claw or small hoof not reaching the ground. Some cut off the dewclaws [of greyhounds]. J. H. Walsh.

Pale red or pale yellow; as, a fallow deer or greyhound. Shak.

See Greyhound.

nd, bloodhound, deerhound, but also used for various breeds of fleet hunting dogs, as the greyhound, boarhound, etc. Hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs. Shak.

long cord, by which a falconer holds his hawk, or a courser his dog. Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash. Shak.

One of a mongrel breed of dogs said to have been a cross between the sheep dog, greyhound, and spaniel. It hunts game silently, by scent, and is often used by poachers.

A dog that pursued his prey by scent, as distinguished from the greyhound.[Obs.]

ringing forward; -- applied especially to the squirrel, weasel, and rat, also to the cat, greyhound, monkey, etc.

To let loose in pursuit of game, as a greyhound. Lucento slipped me like his greyhound. Shak.

est, with a crossbow or a longbow bent, ready to shoot at a deer, or close by a tree with greyhounds in a leash ready to slip; -- one of the four presumptions that a man intends stealing the king's deer. Wharton.

-- opposed to finish. The start of first performance is all. Bacon. I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start. Shak. At a start, at once; in an instant. [Obs.] At a start he was betwixt them two. Chaucer. To get, or have, the start, to before another; to gain or have the advantage in a sim…

he state. Addison. Who cheapens life, abates the fear of death. Young. The brace of large greyhounds, who were the companions of his sports. Sir W. Scott.

supposed by some authors to be one of the ancestors of the St. Bernard dog. (b) The Irish greyhound, supposed to have been used formerly by the Danes for chasing wolves. (c) A dog bred between a dog and a wolf, as the Eskimo dog. -- Wolf eel (Zoöl.), a wolf fish. -- Wolf fish (Zoöl.), any one of several species of la…