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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

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

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

Many also are addicted to the thrill of the hunt for rare, unique items at a better price.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

After the case against Jeramy Roebuck collapsed, the authorities seemingly had no other leads in their hunt for the men who had victimized Mark and Rita.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

“Children of the Wolves” acquires even greater depth when an insightful Turkish police detective joins the hunt.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Meanwhile, thanks to big banks’ eager hunt for new customers, I can now borrow money on a new credit card for the same period at 0% interest.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

Somewhere in the woods, there’s a cacophony of yips—the runts most likely bungling the squirrel hunt.

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

Hunt warns that costs will cut into profit, and U.S. retail sales rebounded in August.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

“This typically means more conversations with their banks,” Hunt said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Hunt Transport Services and more in the latest Market Talks covering the auto and transport sector.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Hunt said the responses to Sweeney's advert have eclipsed the controversy.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

Over the next few days, Liddy and Hunt prepared a proposal for a visit to Fielding’s apartment.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

Chapman, 33 years old, said he is a big believer in Musk, though he believes rocket launches may scare off the ducks he avidly hunts, at least temporarily.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 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

Modern hunts require a licence from public agency NatureScot, which rejected the application this year due to concerns about the impact on the gannet population.

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

Over the next 22 months he hunted them like a man possessed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

As a young man, by his account, he smuggled diamonds, oversaw coconut plantations, dynamited fish, captained schooners and hunted killer cannibals in the New Guinea jungle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

For tens of thousands of years, Aboriginal Australians have hunted these majestic animals for food.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026

"In the marketplaces you basically only find pangolin scales, not the whole animals, which makes it hard to know which species are being hunted and where they are coming from," says Feijó.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 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

He uses a hunting app to identify who owns which patch of remote land, then mails the property owner a letter asking for permission to gather.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

I pivoted back to the overlook, where a beautiful white ibis was hunting for frogs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

"It's incredible that with modern technology, we are actually able to see planet formation in action, and Roman will take planet hunting to the next level."

From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026

Tiger cat species are considered vulnerable to extinction because of deforestation, habitat loss and illegal hunting, although the new species is missing from previous assessments.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

“Aw, Rill, you’re better at hunting than we are,” whines Sand.

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

Related Words

• exploration
• hunting
• inquiry
• interrogation
• investigation
• probe
• prosecution
• pursuit
• quest
• race
• raid