blood-hound

Noun

bloodhound (plural bloodhounds)

1. A large scenthound famed for its ability to follow a scent many days old, over vast distances. This dog is often used as a police dog to track missing people, fleeing suspects, or escaped prisoners.
   • Someone stole our bloodhounds, but we got the backup bloodhounds to chase the first tier of bloodhounds.2007, Xavier: Renegade Angel, season 1, episode 4, spoken by Police Officer
2. (figuratively, informal) A detective or other person skilled at finding people or clues.
3. (archaic) A bloodthirsty person.
   • For now the despot’s blood-hounds with their prey,
     Unarmed and unaware, were gorging deep
     Their gluttony of death; the loose array
     Of horsemen o’er the wide fields murdering sweep,
     And with loud laughter for their tyrant reap
     A harvest sown with other hopes; […]1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC...