• IPA: /hʌnt/

hunt (hunts, present participle hunting; past and past participle hunted)

1. (ambitransitive) To find or search for an animal in the wild with the intention of killing the animal for its meat or for sport.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Genesis 27:5 ↗:

     Esau went to the field to hunt for venison.

   • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, Locksley Hall

     Like a dog, he hunts in dreams.

   • 2010, Backyard deer hunting: converting deer to dinner for pennies per pound ISBN 1449084354, page 10:

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

   Her uncle will go out and hunt for deer, now that it is open season.

2. (ambitransitive) To try to find something; search (for).
   • c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene i]:

     He after honour hunts, I after love.

   The little girl was hunting for shells on the beach.

   The police are hunting for evidence.

3. (transitive) To drive; to chase; with down, from, away, etc.

   to hunt down a criminal

   He was hunted from the parish.

4. (transitive) To use or manage (dogs, horses, etc.) in hunting.

   • He hunts a pack of dogs better than any man in the country.

   Did you hunt that pony last week?
5. (transitive) To use or traverse in pursuit of game.

   He hunts the woods, or the country.

6. (bell-ringing, transitive) To move or shift the order of (a bell) in a regular course of changes.
7. (bell-ringing, intransitive) To shift up and down in order regularly.
8. (engineering, intransitive) To be in a state of instability of movement or forced oscillation, as a governor which has a large movement of the balls for small change of load, an arc-lamp clutch mechanism which moves rapidly up and down with variations of current, etc.; also, to seesaw, as a pair of alternators working in parallel.

• French: chasser
• German: jagen
• Italian: cacciare
• Portuguese: caçar
• Russian: охо́титься
• Spanish: cazar

• French: chercher
• German: suchen
• Italian: essere a caccia, essere alla ricerca
• Portuguese: caçar
• Russian: разы́скивать
• Spanish: buscar

hunt (plural hunts)

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.

• French: chasse
• German: Jagd
• Italian: caccia
• Portuguese: caça (Brazil)
• Russian: охо́та
• Spanish: caza

• Italian: caccia, spedizione di caccia
• Portuguese: caçada

• IPA: /hʌnt/

1. Surname for a hunter (for game, birds etc).
2. (rare) A male given name.