Definition of "hough"

hough¹

/hɒk/

noun
plural houghs
1. Alternative form of hock (“the hollow behind the knee”)
  Quotations
  In the bright light, lightened and cooled in limb, he eyed carefully his black trousers, the ends, the knees, the houghs of the knees.
  1922, James Joyce, Ulysses
2. Alternative form of hock (“tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped”)
verb
third-person singular simple present houghs, present participle houghing, simple past and past participle houghed
1. Alternative form of hock (“to hamstring”)
  Quotations
  Far and wide the farms were burnt over their owners’ heads, the growing crops upon the ground; the horses were houghed, the cattle driven off; while of human death and misery there was no end.
  1866, Charles Kingsley, chapter 25, in Hereward the Wake, London: Nelson, page 337

hough²

noun
plural houghs
1. Obsolete spelling of hoe
verb
third-person singular simple present houghs, present participle houghing, simple past and past participle houghed
1. Archaic spelling of hoe.
  Quotations
  Better the toiling Swain, oh happier far! / Perhaps the happieſt of the Sons of Men! / Who vigorous plies the Plough, the Team, or Car; / Who houghs the Field, or ditches in the Glen, / Delves in his Garden, or ſecures his Pen.
  1748, James Thomson, The Castle of Indolence, K:LV

hough³

noun
plural houghs
1. Alternative form of hoe