hunt

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an instance of searching for something

   the hunt for submarines

2. 2
   verb

   pursue for food or sport (as of wild animals)

   Goering often hunted wild boars in Poland

3. 3
   verb

   search an area for prey

   The monarch used to hunt these forests.

4. 4
   verb

   seek, search for

   I hunted for my reading glasses but was unable to locate them.

5. 5
   verb

   oscillate about a desired speed, position, or state to an undesirable extent

   The oscillator hunts about the correct frequency

6. 6
   verb

   pursue or chase relentlessly

   The hunters traced the deer into the woods

7. 7
   verb

   chase away, with as with force

   They hunted the unwanted immigrants out of the neighborhood

8. 8
   verb

   To find or search for an animal in the wild with the intention of killing the animal for its meat or for sport.

   State Wildlife Management areas often offer licensed hunters the opportunity to hunt on public lands.

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. In some areas read as a collective form of hound by folk etymology.