Glossary of Foxhunting Terms

ALL ON: The expression used by the whipper-in to tell the huntsman that every hound in the pack is present.

ACCOUNT FOR: To kill or run the fox to ground.

AT FAULT: It means the hounds have stopped during a hunt because they have lost the scent.

AT HEAD: Such hounds as are going first are at head; also such men as are first are at head.

AWAY: When a fox has left a cover and gone away, or the hounds are gone away.

BABBLER: A hound that gives tongue (or bays) when it has not picked up the scent of a fox, thus misleading the huntsman and the rest of the pack.

BACK: When a fox heads back, Tally-ho back; of the hounds come out, term is, Hark back.

BAG FOX: A fox loosed from a bag for hounds to hunt; a deplorable practice forbidden by the Master of Foxhounds Association and not undertaken in modern foxhunting.

BILLETT: A fox's droppings.

BINDER: The top strand of a cut-and-laid fence; you may hear of a horse falling after 'catching its leg in a binder'.

BLIND: A 'blind' ditch is one covered with grass or weeds; the country generally is blind and 'hairy' in early autumn.

BLOOD: One of the emotive words seized on by opponents of foxhunting, but there is nothing at all ghoulish about its use. If hounds are 'in blood' they have been killing foxes regularly; if they are 'out of blood' they have hunted some days without killing; the old practice of 'blooding' young foxhunters by daubing their cheeks with the blood of a fox when they arrive at their first kill, is officially discontinued.

BLOWING AWAY: The huntsman's series of quick notes on his horn when hounds leave a covert on the line of a fox. A most stirring sound.

BLOWING OUT: An appropriately less exuberant note on the horn which the huntsman blows to bring hounds out of a covert which is blank, or empty of foxes.

BOB-TAILED: A bob-tailed fox is one with little or no brush.

BOLT: To bolt a fox is to drive it from an earth or a drain, usually by putting a terrier down.

BOTTOM: A deep gulley or steep ravine which cannot be jumped, and must be skirted on horseback; to say that a covert has plenty of 'bottom' means that it has much thick under-growth.

BREAK: A fox breaks covert when it runs from it.

BREAK UP: This is what hounds do when they kill the fox and eat its carcass, an extremely quick process.

BREAST HIGH: A burning scent, whenhounds do not stoop their heads, and go a racing pace.

BRUSH: The fox's tail. Sometimes a guest is presented with the brush at the end of a good run; or it goes to a member of the field who has done well to stay with hounds during the hunt.

BULLFINCH: Often a pretty formidable jump. It is a thick, high thorn hedge, usually with a ditch; you have to jump boldly through the top part.

BURST: The first part of a run out of cover, if quick, is called a sharp burst.

BURNING SCENT: When the hounds run almost mute owing to the goodness of the scent.

BYE-DAY: An additional day's hunting to those normally hunted by a pack.

CAP: As well as being the headgear of the huntsman, the Master, farmers and children, it is the term used for the sum paid by a visitor for one day's hunting; or the smaller amount, a few shillings, paid by regular subscribers each time they come out hunting, usually in aid of the fund to take down wire nowadays.

CAPPING: When a fox is killed, it is the custom in some countries to cap for the huntsman; some man takes round a cap or glove, and men are expected to drop a half-crown into it. It also means, when a man takes off his hat or cap and waves it to bring on the hounds.

CARRY A GOOD HEAD: When hounds run well together owing to the scent being good, and spreading so that it extends wide enough for the whole pack to feel it; but it most frequently happens that the scent is good only on the line for one hound to get it, so that the rest not getting have nothing to lead them on, and do not get to head so as to be all abreast.

CARRY THE HORN: To be a huntsman.

CARRIES A SCENT: The ground surface 'carries a scent' if it is good scenting country such as clean pasture land.

CARRY A LINE: A hound following ascent.

CARRY, CARRIES: plough, or some other sticky surface, 'carries' when it sticks to the feet of a fox or a hound, usually after a frost.

CAST: The hounds' effort to recover a lost scent; a huntsman casts hounds when he tries to help their efforts.

CHALLENGE: The hound which first gives tongue on striking the scent of a fox, can be said to 'challenge', or 'open'.

CHANGED: When hounds have left their hunted fox and changed to another

CHECK: To lose the scent either temporarily or permanently. After they have checked they have to cast (as above).

CHEERING: When hounds are encouraged by a halloo.

CHOP (A FOX): To kill a fox before it has had time to run from covert; it can happen accidentally; it is much to be regretted when it occurs during the season proper .

CLEAN GROUND: Land which is free of distracting scents such as sheep or cattle stains, or the foil of horses.

COLD-HUNTING: When hounds can scarcely feel a scent, and pick it out with difficulty.

COLD LINE: An old scent.

COLD SCENTING COUNTRY: A country which does not carry scent readily.

COUPLE: Hounds are always counted in pairs; thus a pack may be 15½ couple, or 31 hounds; the traditional way to put hounds on a leash, is to couple two hounds together with links of chain joining two collars.

COURSE: When hounds pursue a fox which is in view.

COVERT (also COVER): Pronounced cover without the 'T'. Any stretch of growth where a fox resides: usually a coppice, a stretch of gorse, or a wood; in addition foxes are found in a 'woodland' which in foxhunting terms is always a big area of trees. [Going to Cover: Is going to the place of meeting.]

CRASH: When hounds are running in cover, and it appears that every one is throwing his tongue, it is called a good crash.

CRY: The noise made by hounds when they are hunting.

CUB: A young fox.

CUBHUNTING: The preliminary period of hunting, mainly September and October, before the season proper starts on November 1st.

CURRANT JELLY: A term used when hounds are running hare.

CUT ME DOWN: The 'cut me down countries' is an old slang expression for the most fashionable and hard-riding countries. Surtees makes occasional reference to an attempt to 'cut him down' when a stranger such as Soapy Sponge made a dashing appearance with a crack pack; the locals would try to overtake him and perhaps make him take a fall if they could out-ride him ; I should add that they were never successful with the redoubtable Mr Sponge.

DOUBLE: A 'double' is the short term for a fence with a ditch on both sides (so watch out if someone warns you that the next obstacle is a double) ; a double bank is a big, wide bank with a ditch on both sides; the huntsman 'doubles' his horn when he blows a succession of short notes on it.

DRAFT: Hounds which are sent out of the pack are 'drafted', either to be sold or given to another pack.

DRAG: The scent line left by a fox when it returns to its bed after a night's hunting on its own account.

DRAG LINE: An artificial line used by trailing some suitable substance across country for a pack of hounds to follow. Hence the title 'Drag Hunt' for packs which habitually follow artificial lines to provide guaranteed good runs for the mounted followers.

DRAIN: Underground, where foxes often run to.

DRAW (also DRAWING): The process of sending hounds through a covert to look for a fox; 'the draw' is the area of country where the huntsman intends to search for foxes during a particular day's hunting. To 'draw' a hound from a pack is the practice of hunt staff in calling an individual hound's name and making it come forward from the other hounds.

DWELLING: When hounds do not get on to the huntsman's halloo; probably feeling a stale scent sometimes, till moved by the whipper-in; also a slow huntsman is apt to dwell.

EARTH: A fox's underground home.

EARTHS ARE DRAWN: When a vixen fox has drawn out fesh earth, it is a proof she intends to lay up her cubs there.

ELOPE: A halloo, to get hounds away, and also notice for men to come away.

ENTER: To enter young hounds is to initiate them in the skill of hunting a fox.

EYE TO HOUNDS: A person is said to have a good eye to hounds, whose eye in the chase is always fixed on the leading hound or hounds; by which he has a great advantage over others, as he turns his horse's head immediately whichever way the leading hound does, which saves an angle.

FEATHER: A hound feathers when it is uncertain of the line it is following; usually it waves its stem and keeps its head down, but it does not give tongue under these circumstances.

FEELING A SCENT: A term used when any hound smells the scent; when bad, it is said they can scarcely feel the scent.

FIELD: The mounted followers of the hunt, not including the Master and hunt servants.

FIELD MASTER: Either the Master himself, or someone he appoints, to be in charge of the mounted field. He tells followers when to stop and when to gallop on, and he keeps them off cultivated land, etc. His intention is to stay in front of the mounted followers but it is usually no crime to overtake him when hounds are really running across rideable country – if you can. But you should always obey if he tells you not to overtake him because, by virtue of his local knowledge, he will have some good reason. The good Field Master is firm but ensures that the field does not unnecessarily miss any part of a hunt; a bad Field Master can spoil a day's hunting for many. It is a very important role in modern hunting.

FLIGHTY: A hound which is not a stead hunter is called flighty; also when the scent changes from good to bad repeatedly, it is called flighty.

FLYING FENCES: Those fences which can be cleared from a gallop, preferably a collected gallop.

FOIL: Any odour which tends to obliterate that of the hunted fox; if a fox doubles back on his tracks he is said to be 'running his foil'.

FORWARD: A halloo implies, to get on; or that the hounds are running ahead of you.

FRESH FIND: To rouse the hunted fox anew after losing him.

FULL CRY: When the whole pack are running hard and throwing their tongues.

FURZE, or GORSE: A good cover for a fox; in some counties called gorse, but in the north, whins.

GOOD HEAD: Hounds 'carry a good head' when they run well together and are not strung out.

GONE TO GROUND: When a fox has got into an earth or drain.

GUARANTEE: The sum of money which a Master receives from the hunt committee towards his costs in hunting a country.

HACKLES: The hairs along the ridge of a hound's neck and spine.

HAIRY: A hairy hedge is an overgrown straggly one which can be a tricky jump.

HARK! HALLOO!: When a person hears a halloo at a distance, and the huntsman does not, he should halloo, "Hark! Halloo!" and point with his whip if in sight of him.

HARK FORWARD: Pronounced on the lines of HARRK FOR-ORRARD! The huntsman's shout to the hounds indicating that one or several hounds further on have spoken on finding the line of the fox, or it could indicate that the fox has been seen further on.

HEAD: To head a fox is to turn it from the direction it is running; cars on roads are very likely to do this.

HEADS UP: Getting their heads up, refers to the hounds lifting their heads from the scent.

HEEL: To run the heel way, or to hunt the heel-line is to follow the scent in the opposite direction to which the fox is travelling, something the huntsman must always be careful to prevent.

HIT THE LINE: To hit the line is what a hound does when it finds the scent.

HOLD HARD: A huntsman's rate. Eager and jealous riders when they will not pull up, although pressing the hounds too closely, generally for fear that another will pass them, and so drive hounds beyond the scent, often ruin a day's sport. Men who will not look at hounds may as well content themselves with riding steeple-chases.

HOLDING SCENT: When the scent is just good enough for hounds to hunt a fox a fair pace, but not enough to press him, though it ought to kill him.

HOLD THEM ON: For huntsmen to take the hounds forward, and try for the scent.

HOLD UP: To surround a covert with horsemen and prevent foxes leaving it; usually done during the cubhunting season.

HOUND JOG: The half-trot pace of a horse which is accompanying hounds along a roadway.

HOLLOA: Or VIEW HOLLOA pronounced HOLLER. The shout or screech given by someone who has just seen the fox; the intention is to inform the huntsman and hounds of the fact.

HUIC HOLLOA: Pronounced HIKE HOLLER. A shout or screech to draw hounds' (and perhaps the huntsman's) attention to a holloa further away. Thus a whipper-in might hear a good holloa two fields from a covert where hounds are drawing. The whipper-in might canter up a ride inside the covert shouting to the huntsman and hounds 'Huic Holloa! Huic Holloa!' Huic means hark.

KENNEL: Where a fox lies all day in cover, to which he goes every morning before it is quite daylight, and remains in it till dark.

KENNEL-HUNTSMAN: A huntsman who looks after the management of the kennels where hounds are kept. This applies only to a pack where hounds are hunted by an amateur. A professional huntsman is his own kennel-huntsman.

LAID UP: When a vixen fox has had cubs, she is said to have laid up.

LAY ON: To start hounds on a scent.

LARK: To lark in the hunting field is to jump fences when hounds are not running; or to do it on your way home unnecessarily. Usually frowned upon unless you simply have to jump to get from one field to the next.

LEFT-HANDED: Such hounds are caklled left-handed which are not always right, but apt to be wide, and fly without a scent. The sooner they are drafted the better, although they frequently have some excellent qualities.

LIFT (or LIFTING): This is what a huntsman does when he calls his hounds to him and takes them to a point where he thinks the fox has gone, and where they can hit the scent again without having to try to find the scent over the ground in between. He may take them some considerable distance if he is sure that he knows the route the fox has taken. To lift hounds and then disappoint them is bad practice.

LINE: The scent trail of the hunted fox.

LINE HUNTERS: Good hounds which will not go a yard beyond the scent, and keep the pack right -- invaluable hounds; by some called plough-holders, because they hold the line.

LYING: That part of a cover in which foxes are generally found, probably coppice wood of about two years' growth, or furze, etc.

MAKE: 'Making' the pack is counting it.

MAIN EARTHS: Large earths on which foxes generally breed, being difficult to get out.

MARK: Hounds are marking when they bay at the mouth of an earth or a drain after the fox has entered it.

MASK: A fox's head.

METAL: When hounds ar very fresh, and fly for a short distance on a wrong scent, or without one, it is called "all metal."

MIXED PACK: A pack comprising both bitches and dog-hounds.

MOB: To mob a fox is when hounds surround a fox in covert and kill it without giving it any chance of escape; this could happen when a covert is held up during cubhunting.

MOVING-SCENT: When hounds get on a scent that is fresher than a drag, it is called a moving-scent; that is, the scent of a fox which has been disturbed by travelling.

MUSIC: A commonly used term for the cry of hounds, e.g. a 'crash of hound music'.

MUTE: Hounds often run mute, without giving tongue, when they are running hard on a good scent. When a hound habitually runs mute and never speaks to the line it is a serious fault.

NOISY: When a hound throws his tongue without a scent, he should be drafted.

NOSE: To breed hounds 'for nose', is to breed them for their scenting qualities.

OPEN: To give tongue on hitting the line.

OPEN BITCHES: Bitches to breed from, which are not spayed, are so called.

OPENING MEET: The first meet of the season proper, usually on or soon after November 1st.

OVER-RIDE: To over-ride hounds is to ride in among them; a hunting misdemeanour .

OVER IT: When hounds have gone beyond the scent in chase, it is said they are over it.

OWN THE LINE: To speak to the line, e.g. 'a bitch named Rambler owned the line first'.

OWNING A SCENT: When hounds throw their tongues on the scent.

OXER: An OX fence: a thorn fence with a rail on the side of it; a double-oxer has a rail on each side.

PAD: A fox's foot. This is sometimes presented to followers for the same reasons as a brush. (see above)

PADDING A FOX: Is finding the print of a fox's foot.

POINT: The distance in a straight line between the start of a run and its end, e.g. 'Blankshire hunt score 6-mile point...'; remember that in fact hounds and the followers will usually run much further than six miles in achieving a six mile point.

POINT TO POINT: The distance of a run on a map by a straight line.

PUT TO: To put earths to is to block them on the morning of the hunting day. This will have the effect of keeping in their earths foxes which had already returned after their night's hunting. This system, seldom done thoroughly if at all nowadays, would be applied to earths adjacent to the area of the day's draw so that hounds would not change from the hunted fox to a fresh one. (See (Stopping' below)

QUICK THING: A very fast hunt is sometimes called a quick thing; a popular phrase in the galloping grass countries where some huntsmen have been renowned for providing 'a quick thing'.

RACK: For a track through a fence. (the more usual term is "Meuse.")

RASPER: A splendidly alliterative name for a formidable fence.

RATE: To rate a hound is to tell it off; a function strictly reserved for hunt staff.

RINGING: Running in circles; it is applied to a fox which will not run straight.

RIOT: A foxhound riots when it hunts any animal other than a fox; it is strictly trained not to do so as a young hound; but the temptation to hunt say, a hare, or a deer, is often very strong for a foxhound.

SCENT: The smell given off by the hunted animal.

SINKING THE WIND: When men go down wind to hear the cry, it is called sinking the wind of the hounds.

SKIRT: A hound which cuts corners instead of following the exact line of the fox it is hunting is said to skirt, or to be a skirter.

SLACK: When the scent is bad, hounds are apt to be indifferent, and will scarcely try to hunt their fox, and are said to be slack.

SPAYED: Bitch hounds which are not thought good enough o breed from are spayed, probably owing to their being lathy and thin; if so, it improves them.

SPEAK: To give tongue, or bay.

STAIN: A sheep stained field is one which is foiled by sheep for scenting purposes.

STALE LINE: An old line of scent left long after a fox has gone.

STERN: A hound's tail.

STOOPING: When hounds will not hunt, it is said they will not stoop to the scent; that is, will not put their noses to the ground.

STOPPING: To stop earths is to block them at night so that the fox which is out foraging cannot get below ground when he returns. One system of earth stopping was to stop the earths within the area of the day's draw, and to put to others adjacent. Thus the foxes it is hoped to hunt will be above ground and cannot run to ground nearby; nor can hounds change during a run to a fresh fox nearby.

STREAMING: When hounds go over or across an open country, like a flock of pigeons, it is called streaming away.

STROKE OF A FOX: Is when hounds are drawing. It is evident from their manner that they feel the scent of a fox, although they do not own it.

STUB-BRED: Stub-bred foxes are those which are bred above ground rather than in an earth.

TAIL HOUNDS: Hounds which are behind the main body of the pack when they are running.

TALLY-HO: Same as view holla. 'Tally-Ho back' is a shout which means that the fox has been viewed coming out of a covert, but he has headed back into the covert.

THROW OFF: The cover into which hounds are first thrown. It is said, they threw off in that cover.

THROW THEIR TONGUES: When hounds are in full cry .

THROW UP: The exact spot where the hounds lost the scent in chase is known by their throwing up their heads; and it is said they threw up here.

TICKLISH SCENT: Is when the scent varies from good to bad, and at times scarcely any in the chase, although just before it was very good.

TIGHT IN HIS TONGUE: When a hound seldom throws his tongue, though not quite mute, it is said he is tight in his tongue.

TRENCHER-FED: The old system whereby each hound was kept by an individual farmer at home and then brought to the meet to form a pack with other hounds on a hunting day, i.e. 'a trencher fed pack'.

UNENTERED: A hound is unentered when he has not finished his first cubhunting season.

VIEW: To sight the hunted fox.

VIXEN: A female fox.

WALK: To walk a foxhound puppy is to rear it at your own home.

WARE RIOT: A rate for hounds, instead of Beware riot. It is said, Ware, or Ware hare, or other riot.

WEEDY HOUNDS: Hounds which are weakly made, and not fit to breed from.

WHELPS: Unweaned puppies.

WHIPPERS-IN: (First Whipper-in or Second Whipper-in) They are the huntsman's assistants.

WIND IN THEIR TEETH: When hounds are running against the wind.

YOU OVER: When a fox has crosseda ride, it is hallooed.

Source: Various