Link Centre Dictionary

hone

UK/həʊn/ US/hoʊn/ uncommon uk us

noun

1.

a whetstone made of fine gritstone; used for sharpening razors

verb

1.

sharpen with a hone

  • “hone a knife”
2.

make perfect or complete

  • “perfect your French in Paris!”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English hon (“whetstone”), from Old English hān, from Proto-Germanic *hainō (compare Dutch heen, Norwegian hein), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₃i- (“to sharpen”) (compare Ancient Greek κῶνος (kônos, “cone”), Persian سان (sân, “whetstone”)).

Phrases

  • hone in
  • hone slate
  • hone stone
  • Turkey hone

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.