Hoards

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A large and carefully collected store of valuable items or resources kept hidden or safeguarded
2. An extensive accumulation of goods or wealth gathered and preserved for future use or security
3. A secreted or amassed collection of treasures or provisions held onto for later use or protection

Etymology: Old English "hord" meant a stored collection of valuables, set aside for safekeeping or later use, and its roots reach back to a Germanic word for "treasure." Scholars often link that Germanic root to a much older Indo-European one meaning "to conceal, hide," which would make a hoard literally "something hidden." Modern languages show the same idea: Russian "sokróvišče," meaning "treasure," is related to a verb meaning "to hide." The noun passed into Middle English as "hord," and the verb "horden," meaning to accumulate and store, developed from the Old English "hordian." Hoards are, in a sense, the verb's own subject: you hoard something when you gather and conceal it. "Hoards" is simply the plural of the noun, and it is also the third-person singular present form of the verb "hoard."

Synonyms: stocks, treasures, cache, accumulations, reserves

Antonyms: dispersals, divestments, spending, giving away, distributions