husky1
/ˈhʌski
/- She speaks in a husky voice that clicks slightly from a dry mouth.
- ‘You go ahead,’ Rex said in an anxious, slightly husky voice.
- The women were all in sequins and diamonds and they smoked cigarettes and had raspy voices and husky laughs.
Synonyms
- He was a few inches shorter than me and he's husky.
- The husky man looked irritated at being interrupted.
- This is why husky men over 6 feet tall should avoid yoga.
Synonyms
Derivatives
huskily
/ adverb ...- ‘I don't think I can watch this,’ he muttered huskily.
- ‘I was just about to mention it,’ he said huskily.
- ‘Hello boss,’ a voice whispered huskily into her ear.
huskiness
/ noun ...- ‘I was hoping it was you,’ she whispered with a huskiness Jesse recognised instantly.
- There was something familiar in the huskiness of his tone that she couldn't quite place.
- Her voice was quick and anxious, not her usual slight huskiness.
Rhymes
husky2
/ˈhʌski/- It is being marketed particularly to owners of the most naturally active breeds such as greyhounds and huskies, which can be worst affected by inactivity.
- He'd been working and breeding Alaskan huskies for five years.
Origin
Mid 19th century (originally denoting the Eskimo language or an Eskimo): abbreviation of obsolete Ehuskemay or Newfoundland dialect Huskemaw 'Eskimo', probably from Montagnais (see Eskimo). The term replaced the 18th-century term Eskimo dog.
Husky for a hoarse-sounding person (one with a husky voice) and the term husky for an Arctic dog are unconnected. The first comes from husk (Middle English) meaning ‘the dry outer covering of a fruit or seed’, a medieval word from Dutch hūskjin ‘little house’—the husk was pictured as the ‘house’ of the seed it contained. The name of the powerful dog used for pulling sledges probably comes from a Native American language, and came from Newfoundland dialect Huskemaw a form of Eskimo, first used in English in around 1830. Our use is from the shortening of husky dog or ‘Eskimo dog’.