Word.ws English Dictionary

hood-wink

hood-wink is the alternative form of hoodwink.

Meaning of hoodwink

Verb

hoodwink (third-person singular simple present hoodwinks, present participle hoodwinking, simple past and past participle hoodwinked)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To cover the eyes with, or as if with, a hood; to blindfold.
    • Some there are, that through feare anticipate the hang-mans hand; as he did, whoſe friends having obtained his pardon, and putting away the cloth wherewith he was hood-winkt, that he might heare it read, was found ſtarke dead vpon the ſcaffold, wounded onely by the ſtroke of imagination.1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of the Force of Imagination”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 40
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To deceive using a disguise; to beguile, dupe, mislead.
    • For, (having many times torne the vaile of modestie) it seemed, for a laste delight, that she delighted in infamy: which often she had used to her husbands shame, filling all mens eares (but his) with reproch; while he (hoodwinkt with kindnes) lest of all mẽ [men] knew who strake him.c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New...
    Synonyms:
    snow
  3. (archaic, figuratively, transitive) To hide or obscure.
    • Good my Lord, giue me thy fauour ſtil, / Be patient, for the prize Ile bring thee too / Shall hudwinke this miſchance: therefore ſpeake ſoftly, / All's huſht as midnight yet.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
  4. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To close the eyes.
    • [W]herfore haue you ſate ſtill, and comply'd and hood-winkt, till the generall complaints of the Land have ſqeez'd you to a wretched, cold and hollow-hearted confeſſion of ſome Prelaticall riots both in this and other places of your Booke.1641, [John Milton], Animadversions upon the Remonstrants Defence against Smectymnuus, London: […] [Richard Oulton and Gregory Dexter] for Thomas Vnderhill, […], →OCLC, page 15

See all 6 meanings of hoodwink

Forms of hood-wink

third-person singular presenthood-winks
present participlehood-winking
past participlehood-winked
pasthood-winked

Questions about hood-wink

What is hood-wink the alternative form of?
Hood-wink is the alternative form of hoodwink.

Words near hood-wink in the dictionary

  1. hood suppression system
  2. HOOD syndrome
  3. hood unit
  4. hood units
  5. hood-shy
  6. hood-wink
  7. hood-winked
  8. hood-winking
  9. hood-winks
  10. hoodectomies
  11. hoodectomy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hood-wink (page history and authors); hoodwink (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “hood-wink.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hood-wink. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.