hood
n.
1
"covering," Old English hod "hood," from Proto-Germanic *hodaz (cognates: Old Saxon, Old Frisian hod "hood," Middle Dutch hoet, Dutch hoed "hat," Old High German huot "helmet, hat," German Hut "hat," Old Frisian hode "guard, protection"), from PIE *kadh- "cover" (see hat).Modern spelling is early 1400s to indicate a "long" vowel, which is no longer pronounced as such. Meaning "removable cover for an automobile engine" attested by 1905. Little Red Riding Hood (1729) translates Charles Perrault's Petit Chaperon Rouge ("Contes du Temps Passé" 1697).
2
"gangster," 1930, American English, shortened form of hoodlum.
3
shortened form of neighborhood, by 1987, U.S. black slang.
v.
"to put a hood on," c.1200, from hood, n.1. Related: Hooded; hooding.