hunt
verb (used with object)
to chase or search for (game or other wild animals) for the purpose of catching or killing.
hunt
1 American
[huhnt]
/ hʌnt /
verb (used with object)
-
hunts,
present (3rd person singular)
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hunted,
past participle, past
-
hunting
present participle
-
to chase or search for (game or other wild animals) for the purpose of catching or killing.
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to pursue with force, hostility, etc., in order to capture (often followed bydown ).
They hunted him down and hanged him.
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to search for; seek; endeavor to obtain or find (often followed by up orout ).
to hunt up the most promising candidates for the position.
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to search (a place) thoroughly.
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to scour (an area) in pursuit of game.
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to use or direct (a horse, hound, etc.) in chasing game.
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Change Ringing. to alter the place of (a bell) in a hunt.
verb (used without object)
-
hunts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hunted,
past participle, past
-
hunting
present participle
-
to engage in the pursuit, capture, or killing of wild animals for food or in sport.
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to make a search or quest (often followed by for orafter ).
-
Change Ringing. to alter the place of a bell in its set according to certain rules.
noun
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hunts
plural
-
an act or practice of hunting game or other wild animals.
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a search; a seeking or endeavor to find.
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a pursuit.
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a group of persons associated for the purpose of hunting; an association of hunters.
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an area hunted over.
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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
-
(James Henry) Leigh 1784–1859, English essayist, poet, and editor.
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Richard Morris, 1828–95, U.S. architect.
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(William) Holman 1827–1910, English painter.
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William Morris, 1824–79, U.S. painter (brother of Richard Morris Hunt).
hunt
1
British
/ hʌnt /
verb
-
to seek out and kill or capture (game or wild animals) for food or sport
-
to look (for); search (for)
to hunt for a book
to hunt up a friend
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(tr) to use (hounds, horses, etc) in the pursuit of wild animals, game, etc
to hunt a pack of hounds
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(tr) to search or draw (country) to hunt wild animals, game, etc
to hunt the parkland
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to track or chase diligently, esp so as to capture
to hunt down a criminal
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(tr; usually passive) to persecute; hound
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(intr) (of a gauge indicator, engine speed, etc) to oscillate about a mean value or position
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(intr) (of an aircraft, rocket, etc) to oscillate about a flight path
noun
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the act or an instance of hunting
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chase or search, esp of animals or game
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the area of a hunt
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a party or institution organized for the pursuit of wild animals or game, esp for sport
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the participants in or members of such a party or institution
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informal having a chance of success See also hunt down hunt up
that result keeps us in the hunt
Hunt
2
British
/ hʌnt /
noun
-
Henry , known as Orator Hunt . 1773–1835, British radical, who led the mass meeting that ended in the Peterloo Massacre (1819)
-
( William ) Holman. 1827–1910, British painter; a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (1848)
-
James. 1947–93, British motor-racing driver: world champion 1976
-
( Henry Cecil ) John , Baron. 1910–98, British army officer and mountaineer. He planned and led the expedition that first climbed Mount Everest (1953)
-
( 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
hunt
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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outhuntverb (used with object)
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overhuntverb (used with object)
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huntableadjective
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unhuntableadjective
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unhuntedadjective
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huntedlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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huntsimple
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huntssimple
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have huntedperfect
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has huntedperfect
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am huntingprogressive
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are huntingprogressive
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is huntingprogressive
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have been huntingperfect progressive
-
has been huntingperfect progressive
Past
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huntedsimple
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had huntedperfect
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was huntingprogressive
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were huntingprogressive
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had been huntingperfect progressive
Future
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
And in its forests and on its grasslands, tule elk and mule deer graze, while bobcats and coyotes hunt for rabbits and mountain beavers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Whales and sharks breach and hunt in the waters beyond the thick kelp forests that tickle its edges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
And truck buyers are often deeply loyal so the Detroit companies hunt for any edge to convince customers to switch allegiances.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
The Metro covers the hunt for eclipse glasses, dubbing it Black Wednesday as the demand for specs to watch the solar eclipse has resulted in a "money-making bonanza" for shops.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
It’s easy to find your quarry if you’ve been told to hunt down a flying girl and then you see a child, twenty feet up, weaving through a flock of seagulls.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Great Britain's Dina Asher-Smith, Amy Hunt, Success Eduan and Imani-Lara Lansiquot dominate the 4x100m relay to win a brilliant gold.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Hunt, undeniably the star of these championships as she seeks to capture an "iconic" four golds, will ultimately hope to emulate Asher-Smith and translate continental dominance to global success in the coming years.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Hunt says "looking good and feeling good" is all part of her process to get into the right mindset, and likens walking out on to the track to a gladiator entering an arena.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
GB sprint star Amy Hunt takes her second gold of the 2026 European Athletics Championships in the women's 200m, with Rhasidat Adeleke second and Dina Asher-Smith in third.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
A few days later, Howard Hunt led Gordon Liddy into a Washington, D.C., apartment building.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
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
In the past, other parts of Scotland - including Orkney and Shetland - also had seabird hunts.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
With dozens of actors who lead guests through scavenger hunts, puzzles and conversations, Knott’s Berry Farm’s ‘Ghost Town Alive!’ can’t be replicated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
In the meantime, the AI gowns and Easter-egg hunts will have to suffice.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
Starry hunts in a drawer and finds a pair of shears.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
He said that in New Zealand sooty shearwater, also known as muttonbirds, were traditionally hunted on Rakiura, which is also known as Stewart Island.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
After being hunted to extinction a century ago, gray wolves are continuing their remarkable comeback story in California, with state wildlife officials reporting a modern record number of the apex predators in 2025.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
This rare fossil, with its embedded tooth preserved for millions of years, provides another valuable piece of evidence about how the iconic predator may have hunted and subdued its prey.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
The man is Paul, who does not know how he has come to be in this world but finds himself hunted by a mad duke who wants his magical technologies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
For millions of years, humans hunted smaller creatures and gathered what they could, all the while being hunted by larger predators.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
The 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act Muehl admitted to violating prohibits hunting, harassing, capturing, or killing any marine mammal in U.S. waters, or attempting to do so.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
But as they began house hunting in April they quickly realized that, in spite of elevated listing prices and mortgage rates, the Peabody market was exceptionally hot.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
The takeaway: Even a company hunting for $1 billion in savings knows a brand turnaround can be undercut by a cheap plastic cap or an awkward pour.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Northern sled dogs became compact and heavily coated for cold conditions, while hunting dogs near the equator tended to be leaner and better suited to heat.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
Bartok got out his hunting things, put them on the sled, and got in beside them.
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
