The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hyena \Hy*e"na\, n.; pl. Hyenas. [L. hyaena, Gr. ?, orig., a sow, but usually, a Libyan wild beast, prob., the hyena, fr. ? hog: cf. F. hy[`e]ne. See Sow female hog.] (Zo["o]l.) Any carnivorous mammal of the family Hy[ae]nid[ae], doglike nocturnal mammals of Africa and southern Asia, of which three living species are known. They are large and strong, but cowardly. They feed chiefly on carrion, and are nocturnal in their habits. [Written also hy[ae]na.]
Syn: hyaen
-
Note: The striped hyena ( Hy[ae]na striata) inhabits Southern Asia and a large part of Africa. The brown hyena ( Hy[ae]na brunnea), and the spotted hyena ( Crocuta maculata), are found in Southern Africa. The extinct cave hyena ( Hy[ae]na spel[ae]a) inhabited England and France.
Cave hyena. See under Cave.
Hyena dog (Zo["o]l.), a South African canine animal ( Lycaon venaticus), which hunts in packs, chiefly at night. It is smaller than the common wolf, with very large, erect ears, and a bushy tail. Its color is reddish or yellowish brown, blotched with black and white. Called also hunting dog.
WordNet
n. a dog used in hunting game
Wikipedia
A hunting dog refers to a canine that hunts with or for humans. There are several types of hunting dogs developed for various tasks. The major categories of hunting dogs include hounds, terriers, dachshunds, cur type dogs, and gun dogs. Among these categories further divisions can be made based upon the dogs' skill sets.
Hunting Dogs (Felids) refers to those few hunting dogs which are used primarily to aid in the hunt for large members of the cat family ( felids) such as lion in the Old World and cougar in the New World. A pack may be used either, to track the animal and keep it at baywhich combines both giving voice to the sound known as baying, and surrounding and confining the animalor, they may be expected to engage the animal in combat and seize it, in the manner of the catch dogs used in boar hunting, until the huntsmen have the opportunity to dispatch it. This dual function means that the dogs are of essentially molosser type and are among the largest of all hunting dogs.
Usage examples of "hunting dog".
That peculiar acuteness that one sees in a stalking cat's eyes and the line of a hunting dog's spine on the scent pervaded her.
Even Diana, with hunting dog at hastening heel, is disinclined to turn around and bend her unfailing bow.
But at the age of three, after many kicks and bufferings, he suddenly developed into a marvelous hunting dog, a raider like his master, a rough-and-tumble, uncivilized beast who seemed made for the Chesapeake.
The Labrador had retained little from his short-lived time as a hunting dog in training, but one thing that had stayed with him was an alertness to guns.
Brutus surged up from the earth like a hound emerging from boiling surf, head and shoulders of a great hunting dog made of soil and stone.
He glanced back over his naked shoulder and grinned at Sean with the patent adoration of a hunting dog who acknowledges the most important being in its universe.
Mark was one of those, And he told them how they had used Mark like a hunting dog, and his two women listened intently, all of them bound up in the life of the young man who had gradually come to mean so much to each of them.
Zayn stared ahead eagerly: he seemed to snuffle the air like a hunting dog hard on the heels of his quarry.
The king didn't seem to notice, but Matteo's expression-quickly mastered-couldn't have been more horrified if Tzigone had drop-kicked the king's favorite hunting dog.
When the moon went down and it was utterly dark, then Umfaan threw the lead rein over Dutchman's head, and the big black ox put his nose down and stayed on the track, like a hunting dog on the spoor, until the first glimmering of dawn signalled the outspan.
She had been a good hunting dog, but now her teeth were tired and she had been cast out to fend for herself.