lurcher
/ˈləːtʃə
/noun
1British A cross-bred dog, typically a retriever, collie, or sheepdog crossed with a greyhound, of a kind originally used for hunting and by poachers for catching rabbits.The date is also traditionally the first day of hunting meets and foxhounds, lurchers, greyhounds, beagles, minkhounds, terriers and other hunting dogs will all be taken along to Higham....
- There will be three rings at the dog show for greyhounds, lurchers, whippets and any other breeds.
- Some underfeed their whippets, lurchers, or greyhounds, because they mistakenly think these breeds are meant to be stick-thin.
2 archaic A prowler, swindler, or petty thief.In the following months, she went with Ye every afternoon after work to catch lurchers....
- After a fortnight of failure, a villager reported that the lurcher repeatedly visited one isolated house.
- Crab, in this case, is played by a somnambulant lurcher called Ria.
Origin
Early 16th century (in sense 2): from obsolete lurch 'remain in a place furtively', variant of lurk.