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• hunt
  hunt

  verb (used with object)

  to chase or search for (game or other wild animals) for the purpose of catching or killing.
• Hunt
  Hunt

  noun

  (James Henry) Leigh 1784–1859, English essayist, poet, and editor.

hunt

¹ American  

[huhnt] / hʌnt /

verb (used with object)

• hunts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hunted,
  past participle,  past
• hunting
  present participle

1. to chase or search for (game or other wild animals) for the purpose of catching or killing.

   Synonyms:

   track, pursue

2. to pursue with force, hostility, etc., in order to capture (often followed bydown ).

   They hunted him down and hanged him.

3. to search for; seek; endeavor to obtain or find (often followed by up orout ).

   to hunt up the most promising candidates for the position.

4. to search (a place) thoroughly.

5. to scour (an area) in pursuit of game.

6. to use or direct (a horse, hound, etc.) in chasing game.

7. Change Ringing. to alter the place of (a bell) in a hunt.

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verb (used without object)

• hunts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hunted,
  past participle,  past
• hunting
  present participle

1. to engage in the pursuit, capture, or killing of wild animals for food or in sport.

2. to make a search or quest (often followed by for orafter ).

3. Change Ringing. to alter the place of a bell in its set according to certain rules.

noun

• hunts
  plural

1. an act or practice of hunting game or other wild animals.

2. a search; a seeking or endeavor to find.

3. a pursuit.

4. a group of persons associated for the purpose of hunting; an association of hunters.

5. an area hunted over.

6. Change Ringing. a regularly varying order of permutations in the ringing of a group of from five to twelve bells.

Hunt ² American  

[huhnt] / hʌnt /

noun

1. (James Henry) Leigh 1784–1859, English essayist, poet, and editor.

2. Richard Morris, 1828–95, U.S. architect.

3. (William) Holman 1827–1910, English painter.

4. William Morris, 1824–79, U.S. painter (brother of Richard Morris Hunt).

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hunt ¹ British  

/ hʌnt /

verb

1. to seek out and kill or capture (game or wild animals) for food or sport

2. to look (for); search (for)

   to hunt for a book

   to hunt up a friend

3. (tr) to use (hounds, horses, etc) in the pursuit of wild animals, game, etc

   to hunt a pack of hounds

4. (tr) to search or draw (country) to hunt wild animals, game, etc

   to hunt the parkland

5. to track or chase diligently, esp so as to capture

   to hunt down a criminal

6. (tr; usually passive) to persecute; hound

7. (intr) (of a gauge indicator, engine speed, etc) to oscillate about a mean value or position

8. (intr) (of an aircraft, rocket, etc) to oscillate about a flight path

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noun

1. the act or an instance of hunting

2. chase or search, esp of animals or game

3. the area of a hunt

4. a party or institution organized for the pursuit of wild animals or game, esp for sport

5. the participants in or members of such a party or institution

6. informal having a chance of success See also hunt down hunt up

   that result keeps us in the hunt

Hunt ² British  

/ hʌnt /

noun

1. Henry , known as Orator Hunt . 1773–1835, British radical, who led the mass meeting that ended in the Peterloo Massacre (1819)

2. ( William ) Holman. 1827–1910, British painter; a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (1848)

3. James. 1947–93, British motor-racing driver: world champion 1976

4. ( Henry Cecil ) John , Baron. 1910–98, British army officer and mountaineer. He planned and led the expedition that first climbed Mount Everest (1953)

5. ( James Henry ) Leigh (liː). 1784–1859, British poet and essayist: a founder of The Examiner (1808) in which he promoted the work of Keats and Shelley

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hunt Idioms  

1. see happy hunting ground; high and low, (hunt); run with (the hare, hunt with the hounds).

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• outhunt
  verb (used with object)
• overhunt
  verb (used with object)
• huntable
  adjective
• unhuntable
  adjective
• unhunted
  adjective
• huntedly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hunts
  plural

Participles

• hunting
  present
• hunted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• hunt
  simple
• hunts
  simple
• have hunted
  perfect
• has hunted
  perfect
• am hunting
  progressive
• are hunting
  progressive
• is hunting
  progressive
• have been hunting
  perfect progressive
• has been hunting
  perfect progressive

Past

• hunted
  simple
• had hunted
  perfect
• was hunting
  progressive
• were hunting
  progressive
• had been hunting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will hunt
  simple
• will have hunted
  perfect
• will be hunting
  progressive
• will have been hunting
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of hunt

First recorded before 1000; (for the verb) Middle English hunten, Old English huntian, derivative of hunta “hunter,” akin to hentan “to pursue”; noun derivative of the verb

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Explanation

To hunt is to track and kill an animal for fun or food. In Italy, they use pigs to hunt truffles. In the US, they use shotguns to hunt deer. Some humans hunt animals with a gun or a bow and arrow, and some animals hunt smaller animals — the way a wolf hunts rabbits or a cat hunts birds. You can hunt in a non-lethal way as well, like when you hunt all over your house for your lost car keys, or your little brother hunts for you during a game of hide-and-seek. The Old English root of hunt is huntian, "chase game."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hunt Hunt hunts hunted hunting

For the nightjar, that means combining the ability to migrate across continents with the agility required to hunt insects at low speeds.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026

He tells me the most frightening threat was Russian drones, piloted remotely and determined to hunt down their target.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

The hunt for secondhand bargains is helping to drive the stock higher.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

This season, his cover blown, he continues the hunt while working for the police as a consultant on individual cases.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

“It’s just that this went from the worst Easter egg hunt ever to the weirdest Halloween group I’ve ever seen.”

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Hunt reported third-quarter earnings per share of $1.82 from sales of $3.7 billion.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

Hunt Transport Services is looking to raise prices as it grapples with a steep increase in costs, the Journal’s Elias Schisgall writes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Hunt shares fell 4.3% in after-hours trading following the earnings release.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

The latest purchase was made by Miami real estate investor Ron Firman in a private sale through Hunt Auctions.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

I enjoy Namontack’s story, but I can see that Reverend Hunt is becoming discouraged.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

The Secret Service now regularly hunts for skimmers across U.S. cities while educating merchants to spot them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

The Colosseum, the largest amphitheatre in the world, was built in the first century and was used to host events like animal hunts and gladiatorial games.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

Many people are sticking with their current job, knowing that unemployed workers have to trudge through job hunts that last for months.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

The cultural significance of the hunt is recognised under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and modern hunts require a licence from NatureScot.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

Rook Hill had its own hunt and its own huntress, of course, for hunts had always been led by women.

From "Ash" by Malinda Lo

Glover connected that idea to Aboriginal traditions in which women historically cared for the fire while men hunted.

From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026

I recently watched with smug satisfaction as OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra model hunted through spreadsheets to reconcile an uncooperative credit card statement and then navigated QuickBooks to make sure it was reflected in the right places.

From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026

Ms. Jeon, by contrast, has a haunted, hunted and withdrawn presence—moving among her family and friends as if her mind and spirit are continually elsewhere.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

They hunted them down, right from the opening minutes.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

I was not at all sure Mike's rods would come from Scotland in time, so we hunted a tackle store and finally bought a rod for Bill up-stairs over a drygoods store.

From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway

"You end up hunting for a decent length of antibiotic courses that will give you some relief," she said.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

Its most significant feature, however, was not its size or hunting ability.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

In Zvirynets—once the hunting grounds of medieval princes, now a leafy upscale neighborhood—residents hurry to the subway station.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

He isn’t wearing Balenciaga Crocs, but the Realtree hunting collaboration ones that cost $60.

From Slate ● Oct. 3, 2026

He had a white streak across his head which I guessed was a wound scar from some hunter— bear hunting is allowed here.

From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen

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