Crossword clues for lurcher
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Lurcher \Lurch"er\ (l[^u]rch"[eil]r), n. [See Lurch to lurk.]
One that lurches or lies in wait; one who watches to pilfer, or to betray or entrap; one who lurks; a lurker; a poacher.
(Zo["o]l.) 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.
Lurcher \Lurch"er\, n. [L. lurco, lurcho, a glutton. See 1st Lurch.] A glutton; a gormandizer. [Obs.]
Wiktionary
Etymology 1 n. 1 (context obsolete English) One who lurks or lies in wait; one who watches in order to rob or betray; a poacher. 2 A type of crossbreed dog ― a cross between a sighthound and any other breed or the offspring of such crosses. Etymology 2
n. (context obsolete English) A glutton; a gormandizer.
WordNet
Wikipedia
The lurcher is the offspring of a sight hound mated with another breed, most commonly a pastoral breed or a terrier type of dog. Brian Plummer identifies the Norfolk lurcher as the predecessor of the modern lurcher. While not a pure breed, it is generally a cross between a sighthound and a working dog breed. Collie crosses are popular, given the working instinct of a sheepdog when mated with a sighthound gives a dog of great intelligence plus speed—prerequisites for the hunter/poacher. In the US midwest, crosses with large scent hounds are fairly common.
Usage examples of "lurcher".
Sixty or seventy of them, large and small, smooth and shaggy--deer-hound, boar-hound, blood-hound, wolf-hound, mastiff, alaun, talbot, lurcher, terrier, spaniel--snapping, yelling and whining, with score of lolling tongues and waving tails, came surging down the narrow lane which leads from the Twynham kennels to the bank of Avon.
There is little doubt that they are the descendants of the dogs which the ancients called lurchers, crossed, perhaps, with the greyhound, and possibly other breeds.
The wagon had been moved from the outer to the inner circle, and a half-dozen fierce lurchers had been tied about it to keep away intruders.