hunt
Forms
- present (v1)
- hunt
- past (v2)
- hunted
- past participle (v3)
- hunted
- present participle
- hunting
- 3rd person singular
- hunts
- Plural
- hunts
Definitions
1.To find or search for an animal in the wild with the intention of killing the animal for its meat or for sport.
- Her uncle will go out and hunt for deer, now that it is open season.
- State Wildlife Management areas often offer licensed hunters the opportunity to hunt on public lands.
- Either the bird will be downgraded to "threatened" status, which means it can be hunted, or it will be declared a nonspecies, as has already happened to all its taxonomic kissing cousins.
2.To try to find something; search (for).
- The police are hunting for evidence.
- He after honour hunts, I after love.
- The little girl was hunting for shells on the beach.
3.To drive; to chase; with down, from, away, etc.
- He was hunted from the parish.
4.To use or manage (dogs, horses, etc.) in hunting.
- Did you hunt that pony last week?
- He hunts a pack of dogs better than any man in the country.
1.The act of hunting.
2.A hunting expedition.
3.An organization devoted to hunting, or the people belonging to it.
4.A pack of hunting dogs.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3693
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
From Middle English hunten, from Old English huntian (“to hunt”), from Proto-West Germanic *huntōn (“to hunt, capture”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ḱent- (“to catch, seize”). Related to Old High German hunda (“booty”), Gothic 𐌷𐌿𐌽𐌸𐍃 (hunþs, “body of captives”), Old English hūþ (“plunder, booty, prey”), Old English hentan (“to catch, seize”). More at hent, hint.