▪ I. † hunt, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 1 hunta, 2–6 hunte, 4–5 honte, 4–6 hunt.
[OE. hunta hunter, huntsman (also hunting-spider) agent-n.:—OTeut. type *hunton-, app. from a weak-grade of the same root as hent (:—*hantjan), not exactly represented in the other Teut. langs. From its form, hunta is an old word, not a derivative of huntian hunt v., but app. rather its source.
The ablaut-stem *hent-, *hant-, *hunt- is identical in sense, and in origin evidently closely akin to henþ-, hanþ-, hunþ-, in Gothic hinþan to seize, capture, fra-hunþans captive, hunþs captivity, and OHG. hunda, OE. h{uacu}ð booty. But the interchange of þ and t (:— pre-Teut. t and d) is difficult to account for. On an apparent pre-Teut. change of nt to nd in these and some other words, see Prof. Napier in Mod. Quart. Lang. & Lit. July 1898, 130; cf. Brugmann Grundr. ed. 2, I. §701.]
A hunter; a huntsman. (In quot. 1000, a hunting-spider.) Common Hunt: see quot. 1707.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 144 Wiþ huntan bite, blace sneᵹlas on hattre pannan ᵹehyrste. c 1131 O.E. Chron. an. 1127 Ða huntes wæron swarte..& here hundes ealle swarte..& hi ridone on swarte hors. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 209 Þe deuel..henteð us alse hunte driueð deor to grune. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 357 Alle þe hontes schulde come wiþ her houndes. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 629 in Babees Bk. 320 A halpeny þo hunte takes on þe day For euery hounde, þo sothe to say. 1566 Drant Horace, Sat. i. i. A iij, The hungrye hunts muste haue it all. 1575 Turbervile Bk. of Venerie 127 Then the chiefe hunte shall take his knyfe and cut off the deares ryght foote. 1700 T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. Ser. & Com. 30 Would you buy the Common Hunt, the Common Cryers, the Bridge-Master's..Places? 1707 Chamberlayne Pres. State Eng. 357 He [the Lord Mayor] hath four Officers that wait on him, who are reputed Esquires by their Places; that is, The Sword-Bearer. The Common-Hunt, who keepeth a good Kennel of Hounds for the Lord-Mayor's Recreation abroad. The Common Cryer. The Water Bailiff. 1807 Dec. 17 Journal 84, Common Council of London, fol. 135 b, Motion thereupon made that the Office of Common Hunt be abolished, and eventually carried. |
▪ II. hunt, n.2 (
hʌnt)
[f. hunt v.] 1. The act of hunting.
a. The act of chasing wild animals for the purpose of catching or killing them; the chase.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Julian 236 In ȝouthhede..he a day til hwntis ȝede. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1770 Ther nas no Tygre in the vale of Galgopheye..So crueel on the hunte. 1537 [see hunt's up]. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. ii. 1 The hunt is vp, the morne is bright and gray. Ibid. ii. iii. 19 Eccho mock's the Hounds,..As if a double hunt were heard at once. 1781 W. Blane Ess. Hunt. (1788) 133 Why a Hare, towards the end of the hunt, is often difficult to be killed. 1869 Trollope He knew etc. i. 5 [He] could not have ridden a hunt to save either his government or his credit. |
b. fig. and
gen. Pursuit, as of a wild animal; the act of strenuously seeking or endeavouring to find something; a search,
esp. a diligent search. Also with
adv., as
a hunt-up.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. iii. 3, I heard my selfe proclaim'd, And by the happy hollow of a Tree, Escap'd the hunt. 1697 tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 52 They were now upon the Hunt for him. 1764 Foote Patron ii. Wks. 1799 I. 347 It is three months ago since I got the first scent of it, and I have been ever since on the hunt. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. viii. 659 On the hunt for appearances of guilt. 1852 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 194, I went off then on a new hunt for lodgings. |
2. concr. a. A body of persons (which may include also horses and dogs) engaged in, or associated for the purpose of, hunting with a pack of hounds; also, a hunting association.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 159 For feare of raungers, and the great hunt. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. i. 27 The common hunt, though from their rage restrain'd..Grinn'd as they pass'd. 1762 in Egerton-Warburton Hunt. Songs (1883) Introd. 14 The Orders of the Tarporley Hunt, November y⊇ 14th, 1762. 1787 Burns Poems Ded., To the Noblemen and Gentlemen of the Caledonian Hunt. 1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsemen Pref. (1809) 55 They might ere now have belonged to the first hunts in the country. 1812 Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 134 Foxes..have been poisoned..to the great annoyance of the hunts established in that county. 1887 Sir R. H. Roberts In the Shires i. 7 She..is looked upon as a privileged person, a pet of the hunt. 1889 Repent. P. Wentworth I. 56 To withdraw his subscription to the Hunt. |
† b. That which is hunted; game killed in hunting:
= chase n.1 4.
Obs.| 1588 R. Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 17 In the which..is great quantitie of hunt and flying foules. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iii. vi. 90 Boyes wee'l go dresse our hunt. |
c. The district over which a pack of hounds hunts. (
Cf. chase n.1 3.)
| 1857 in Art Taming Horses xi. (1859) 178 The celebrated ‘Haycock’ [inn].., standing..in the middle of the Fitzwilliam Hunt. 1882 Field 28 Jan. 100/3 Every landowner within the hunt should be careful to preserve foxes. Mod. The property is situated within the Heythrop hunt. |
3. Change-ringing. (See
quot. and
cf. hunt v. 7.)
| 1684 R. H. School of Recreation 93 In all Peals upon five Bells there are two Hunts, to wit, a whole and an half-Hunt. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 462/2 The First, or Treble Bell, it is termed the Hunt, and the Second Bell the half Hunt, because they run from the round Ringing, through all the change of Bells backwards and forewards, before they come to round Ringing againe. |
4. A hunting or oscillatory motion (see
hunt v. 7 b,
hunting vbl. n. 1 f).
| 1920 Nature 11 Mar. 46/1 It moves backwards and forwards very slightly, and this motion we term the ‘hunt’. 1934 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. XXIV. 399 The ‘angle of hunt’, i.e. the angle of oscillation about the mean radial velocity, cannot exceed 360/N degrees, where N is the number of segments in the armature. 1937 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLI. 410 The well behaved short period oscillation develops into an irritating hunt. 1952 A. Tustin Automatic & Manual Control 280 If the amplitude is not too large, and..we know how to reduce the amplitude by increasing the hunt frequency, it is possible to check a mean position of the system. |
5. Telephony. An operation of hunting by a selector or switch (see
hunting vbl. n. 1 g).
| 1927 W. E. Hudson Director Syst. Autom. Telephony ii. 42 Relay C..is used to determine when the impulse train is finished so as to allow the automatic hunt to start. 1966 Rubin & Haller Communication Switching Syst. i. 31 The hunt motion is a vertical move of the wipers along the contact bank. |
6. attrib. and
Comb., as
hunt-breakfast,
hunt-button,
hunt-dinner,
hunt-servant;
hunt-weary adj.;
hunt ball, a ball given by members of a hunt;
† hunt-beast, a beast of the chase;
hunt-sergeant, an officer of Massachusetts in the colonial and provincial period, who had charge of the hunts (carried on with hounds) for hostile Indians;
† hunt-spear, a hunting-spear.
| 1807 Sporting Mag. XXXI. 40/1 The annual *Hunt Ball took place at Chepstow. 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Ruth I. i. 13 The annual hunt-ball was to take place. 1933 A. Powell From View to Death iv. 113 Ungainly young men who had had a glass too much of champagne at hunt-ball suppers. 1968 A. Diment Bang Bang Birds x. 193 Penny told us about a hunt ball she had attended recently. 1973 K. Giles File on Death iv. 90 'E provides the catering for the 'unt ball at seven guineas the ticket. |
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 480 He ordanit..That na *hunt beist with schutting sould be slane. |
| 1877 Trollope Amer. Senator II. xxiv. 254 That old farmer at the *hunt breakfast. 1897 Daily Tel. 23 Nov. 9/3 A hunt-breakfast was given to the followers of the East Kent foxhounds. 1973 K. Giles File on Death v. 133 The other one..kept pawing the ladies..and falling off his horse after the Hunt Breakfast. |
| 1859 Art Taming Horses xi. 183 Scarlet-coated, many with the Brocklesby *hunt button. |
| 1844 Disraeli Coningsby iii. v, It was at the *Hunt dinner. |
| 1706–7 Acts Prov. Mass. Bay (ed. Goodell) l. 599 Persons who shall..have them [hounds] at all times in readiness to attend the *hunt serjeant. |
| 1894 Sir J. D. Astley 50 Years Life II. 5 Horses, hounds, and *hunt-servants have never been better turned out. |
| 1594 Marlowe & Nashe Dido iii. M.'s Wks. (Rtldg.) 263/2 Ascanius..Bearing his *hunt-spear bravely in his hand. |
| a 1831 Clough Ess. Class. Metres, Actaeon 4 Artemis..alone, *hunt-weary, Unto a dell..her foot unerring Had guided. |
Add:
6. hunt sab colloq. = *
hunt saboteur below; also as
v. intr., to act as a hunt saboteur (
pres. pple. in
quot.);
cf. *
sab n.2| 1981 N.Y. Times 11 Feb. c1/5 The ‘*hunt sabs’, as they call themselves, are mostly young, and many are vegetarians. 1986 Peace News 20 June 5/1 Sixty odd Hunt Sabs..talking and debating with the forty-strong hunt. 1986 G. F. Newman Set Thief 8 In a village..where she had been hunt sabbing.., it [sc. the car] had been almost totally vandalized by hunt supporters. |
hunt saboteur, a person whose intention is to disrupt a hunt.
| 1964 Western Times (Exeter) 8 May 9/7 A broken jaw is said to be one of the relics *hunt saboteurs took away with them from a meet of the Culmstock Otter Hunt at Colyford on Saturday. 1986 Financial Times 20 Oct. 1/1 Police are investigating clashes between hunt saboteurs and the North Surrey and Sussex Beagles at Lingfield. |
hunt saboteuse rare, a female hunt saboteur.
| 1977 ‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon xi. 215 ‘Polluters,’ said the hunt saboteuse. |
▪ III. hunt, v. (
hʌnt)
Forms: 1
huntian, 2–3
huntien,
hunten, 3–7
hunte, 4–
hunt; (also 3–4
hont(e,
hounte, 4
hownte,
Sc. hwnt, 4–6
hount, 5
honte).
[OE. huntian:—OTeut. type *huntôjan, stem of f. *hunton-, OE. hunta, hunt n.1] I. 1. a. intr. To go in pursuit of wild animals or game; to engage in the chase. Also of animals: To pursue their prey.
| c 1000 ælfric Colloq. in Wr.-Wülcker 92/11 Ne canst þu huntian buton mid nettum. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 172 Gif him þince þæt he huntiᵹe, beorᵹe him ᵹeorne wið his fynd. c 1131 O.E. Chron. an. 1127 Þa sæᵹon & herdon fela men feole huntes hunten. c 1205 Lay. 1432 Ȝe huntieð i þes kinges friðe. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 256/5 Ase he hountede In a dai In Iolifte j-nouȝ. a 1300 Cursor M. 3519 Esau went for till hunt. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. i. (Bodl. MS.), Some [beasts] hunteþ by nyȝt. a 1400 Octouian 891 To hounty yn ech mannys boundes Hyt was hys wone. 1513 More Rich. III (1883) 3 [He] sente for the Mayre and Aldermenne of London to hym..too haue them hunte and bee mery with hym. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 201, I have beheld them instructing their young ones, how to hunt. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 270 The dog kinds..love to hunt in company. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 91 One day the son went forth to hunt. |
b. With prepositions (
after,
† to,
† at,
for). (Now blending with 3 a.)
| c 1200 Ormin 13467 Þatt teȝȝ sholldenn hunntenn Acc nohht wiþþ hundess affterr der Acc affterr menn wiþþ spelless. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 981 Dido, Ony wilde bor..That they han huntid to in this foreste. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xiv. 63 Grete plentee of wylde bestes for to hunt at. c 1450 Merlin 183 Yo do nought elles..but hunte after the hare thourgh the feldes. 1486 Bk. St. Albans E ij b, When ye hunt at the Roo. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. i. 9 Walks out into the Woods, and hunts about for Pecary, Warree..or Deer. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 156 Training them up to hunt for fish. |
| fig. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 184 Sa thay think to bleir ȝour E, And syne at ȝow to hount. |
2. trans. To pursue (wild animals or game) for the purpose of catching or killing; to chase for food or sport; often
spec. to pursue with hounds or other tracking beasts. Also said of animals chasing their prey.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 576 Ic asende..mine huntan, and hi huntiað hi of ælcere dune and of ælcere hylle. c 1275 Lay. 1423 Corineus was to wode ivare for hunti deor wilde. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Placidas 86 He went to hont Þe auld bestis, as he wes wont. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. vi. (Bodl. MS.), Scheo [the owl] hunteþ and eeteþ myes and reremyesse. Ibid. xiii, Swalewes þat fleeþ in þe aiere hunteþ flies. 1486 Bk. St. Albans E iv a, All other beestys that huntid shall be. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 1 The King he is hunting the Deare. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 414 The proper Time..T'inclose the Stags in Toyls, and Hunt the Hare. 1788 W. Blane Hunt. Excurs. 16 The hunting the wild buffaloe is also performed by shooting him from elephants. 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 45 To hunt the elk, deer, and ahsahta or bighorn. 1859 Art Taming Horses xii. 203 When the hounds hunt anything beside fox the word is ‘Ware Riot’. |
3. fig. and
gen. a. intr. To search, seek (
after or
for anything),
esp. with eagerness and exertion.
| c 1200 [see 1 b]. a 1225 Ancr. R. 66 Heo hunteð efter pris. a 1240 Ureisun in Cott. Hom. 203 Hwuder schal ich fleon hwon þe deouel hunteð efter me. c 1305 St. Lucy 119 in E.E.P. (1862) 104 Hit is al for noȝt þat þu huntest aboute. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 60 Sathanas & his mynysters, whiche dayly hunteth to take thy soule. 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Thess. 3 We hunted so litell for rewarde at your handes. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. ix. 211 Hunting after knowledge which must perish with them. 1830 De Quincey Bentley Wks. VI. 171 Hunting backward, upon the dimmest traces, into the aboriginal condition of things. 1862 Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Hallib. i. iii. 15 Spending all his superfluous minutes hunting for a house. 1895 Law Times C. 3/1 The judge and Master Macdonell hunted through the White Book, and unearthed a rule sufficiently elastic. |
b. trans. To go eagerly in search of, search for, seek (
esp. with desire and diligence); to endeavour to capture, obtain, or find.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Placidas 126 And þi gud dedis causis me, As þou me huntis, to hont þe. 1573 Satir. Poems Reform. xli. 19 He neuer huntit benefice, Nor catchit was with Couatice. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche i. ccxxxv, He therefore through close paths of wary hast Hunts his escape. 1753 J. Bartram in Darlington Mem. (1849) 195 Next morning..we hunted plants till breakfast. 1818 E. P. Fordham Pers. Narr. Trav. (1906) 221 The next day I shall cross the Little Wabash to ‘hunt land’. 1834 Visit to Texas i. 10 An old Tennessean and his wife with their sons were going ‘to hunt land’. Ibid. xiii. 122 He sometimes sends out three or four men to collect and mark them. This is called hunting cattle. 1891 M. E. Ryan Told in Hills iv. iii. 309 All were sleepy enough to hunt beds early. 1894 Baring-Gould Deserts S. France I. 140 It [the truffle] is hunted regularly by trained dogs. 1903 A. Adams Log of Cowboy iii. 38 Flood..suggested that all hands hunt their blankets and turn in for the night. |
c. To follow (as a hound does); to track.
| 1579 E. K. Ep. Spenser's Sheph. Cal., In regard wherof, I scorne and spue out the rakehellye route of our ragged rymers (for so themselues vse to hunt the letter). 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 11 That path..Which when by tract they hunted had throughout At length it brought them to a hollowe cave. 1847 Tennyson Princ. ii. 368 ‘They hunt old trails’ said Cyril ‘very well; But when did woman ever yet invent?’ 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. xxxii. 417, I hunted the seams still farther up the glacier. |
4. a. trans. To pursue with force, violence, or hostility; to chase and drive before one; to put to flight; to chase or drive
away or
out. (See
huntaway n.)
| c 1340 Cursor M. 13658 (Trin.) Þei huntid him as a dogge Riȝt out of her synagogge. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2414 Phyllis, So huntith hym the tempest to and fro. 1484 Caxton Curiall 3 She is by force hunted away. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxxxix. [cxl.] 11 A malicious and wicked person shal be hunted awaye and destroyed. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. li. 110 To hunt them foorth lyke theeues. 1642 Rogers Naaman 31 The Lord would hunt her out of it. 1808 Scott Life Dryden iv, He might lay his account with being hunted out of society. 1886 R. C. Leslie Sea-painter's Log 25 They are hunted by ‘the bobby’ from place to place. |
b. fig. To pursue with injury or annoyance; to persecute, pester, worry.
| 1583 Hollyband Campo di Fior 387 But hunger hunteth me. 1678 Otway Friendship in F. ii. i, He hunts and kisses you when he is drunk. 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 38 When..I choose to hunt a Monsieur for my own particular amusement. 1860 Hawthorne Marb. Faun (1879) II. viii. 90 These pests..had hunted the two travellers at every stage of their journey. |
5. To scour (a district) in pursuit of game;
spec. to make (a district) the field of fox-hunting; hence,
fig. to search (a place) thoroughly and keenly for something which one hopes to find there; to examine every nook and cranny of.
| a 1440 Sir Degrev. 174, I wulle ffore thy lordes tene, Honte hys fforesstus and grene. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 121 The Citizens have free libertie of hunting a certeyne circuite aboute London. 1712 Swift Let. 28 Oct., I must now go hunt those dry letters for materials. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales I. 101 Let us hunt the waterfalls higher up. 1875 G. J. Whyte-Melville Riding Recoll. i. (1879) 9 When he [Sir R. Sutton] hunted the Cottesmore country. Mod. I have hunted the house for it, but cannot lay my hands on it. |
6. To use or employ in hunting; to ride (a horse), direct or manage (hounds), in the chase.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 117 The time of teaching a Gray-hound..Some hunt them at ten months, if they be males, and at eight months, if they be female. 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4465/6 The Owner..to certify, that his Horse was constantly Hunted the last Season. 1735 Somerville Chase i. 83 To rear, feed, hunt, and discipline the Pack. 1857 Ld. Malmesbury Mem. Ex-minister (1884) II. 80 In consequence of his always hunting his pointers down wind. 1875 G. J. Whyte-Melville Riding Recoll. i. (1879) 6 He hunts one pack of his own hounds in Northamptonshire. 1889 in Horse & Hound 24 Aug. 516/2 Horses described as ‘hunters’..must have been hunted, and be capable of being hunted. |
7. a. Change-ringing. To alter the position of (a bell) in successive changes so as to shift it by degrees from the first place to the last (
hunting up), or from the last to the first (
hunting down). Also
absol. or intr.| 1684 R. H. School Recreat. 92 So by turns, 'till every Bell being hunted up and down, comes into its proper Place again. Ibid. 96 Whatsoever Bells you follow when you Hunt up, the same Bells in the same order you must follow in Hunting down. 1880 C. A. W. Troyte in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 334 The bells work in regular order from being first bell to being last, striking two blows as first and two as last: this is called by ringers ‘hunting up and down’. |
b. intr. Of a governor, a synchronous electric motor or generator, etc.: to run alternately faster and more slowly than the desired speed. Hence more widely of other machines, systems, etc.: to oscillate
about a desired speed, position, or state to an undesirable extent, to jump backwards and forwards.
| 1877 Proc. Inst. Mech. Engin. 273 Siemens' interesting governor..had..a great tendency to ‘hunt’,..if it was first left a little behind, and then got an excess of force, it would be constantly ‘hunting’ or oscillating about a mean position. 1894 Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 759 A Watt governor..does not hunt if designed for stability. 1902 Trans. Amer. Inst. Electr. Engin. XVIII. 374/2 The motors attempt to follow the generator exactly. If the latter pulsates, the motors pulsate also; they vibrate about a mean position, ‘hunting’ or pumping. 1921 M. Walker Diagn. Troubles Electr. Machines vi. 239 In the case of steam turbines and steam engines, it is possible for the governor to hunt in a perfectly periodic manner. 1951 S. Deutsch Theory & Design Television Receivers xiii. 431 If the feedback loop is underdamped, the oscillator frequency will swing below 15,750 cycles per second, whereupon the correcting voltage causes a swing above 15,750 cycles per second, etc. In other words, the oscillator will ‘hunt’ about the correct frequency. 1953 Electronic Engin. XXV. 156/1 Since the torque balance has an on-off action..it has a tendency to hunt. 1969 Daily Tel. 10 Jan. 26/4 The British train will be able to use existing railway tracks because of a new type of suspension... This will stop the train ‘hunting’ sideways. 1969 J. Argenti Managem. Techniques 99 If the action is too late or too weak, control will be inadequate, if too early or too strong the system will ‘hunt’—i.e. swing violently above and below the standard. 1970 ‘J. Earl’ Tuners & Amplifiers iii. 74 On weak stereo signals this circuit can ‘hunt’ over mono and stereo in a very disconcerting manner, switching to stereo as the signal rises and back to mono as it falls. |
8. To call upon (a person) to fill up or drink off his glass:
chase v.
1 4.
| 1780 Bannatyne in Mirror No. 76 ¶11 Umphraville received a slap on the shoulder from one of the company, who at the same time reminded him that he was hunted. My friend..thanked the gentleman..for his attention, and drank off his bumper. |
9. Telephony. Of a selector or switch: to carry out the operation of hunting (
hunting vbl. n. 1 g). Const.
for,
over.
| 1924 W. Aitken Autom. Telephone Syst. III. lvi. 275 Dialling O..results in the starting of a free-trunk finder, which automatically hunts for the calling line. 1924 H. H. Harrison Introd. Strowger Syst. Autom. Telephony i. 26 The preselector or line switch..hunts to find one of ten or more idle group selectors. 1933 K. B. Miller Telephone Theory & Pract. III. v. 250 It is usual to adjust the speed to permit the selector to hunt over a group of 30 trunks in 1 second. 1961 Proc. Inst. Electr. Engin. CVII. b. Suppl. 161/2 A maximum of 1·8 millisec is required to select a channel,..and a further period of 900 microsec to hunt for a free channel. |
II. Phrases.
10. hunt down.
a. To chase (an animal) until caught or killed; to run to earth, to bring to bay;
fig. to pursue and overcome or destroy; also, to pursue until one gets possession or mastery of. (See also 7.)
| a 1719 Addison (J.), We should single every criminal out of the herd, and hunt him down. 1816 Keatinge Trav. (1817) I. 291 Errors, popular or not, are lawful game, and free to every one to hunt down. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 217 Refusing to spy out and hunt down little congregations of Nonconformists. 1877 E. R. Conder Bas. Faith iv. 150 Let us..try to hunt down this fugitive question. |
b. N.Z. (See
quot. 1933.)
| 1933 L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 28 Oct. 17/7 Hunt down, to hunt the sheep off the higher parts of their winter country on to lower, safer spurs when snow is expected; e.g., ‘We hunted down every day for a week, but no snow came.’ 1961 B. Crump Hang on a Minute 85, I want you blokes to go round to the Snow Hut and hunt the sheep down into the valley from the open spur. |
11. hunt out: to expel or drive from cover or shelter by hunting or persistent search; to track out; to arrive at or discover by investigation.
| 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 128 Except he hath taken flight into Dalmatia, from whence (notwithstanding he lurk for a season) we intend to hunt him out. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 626/1 Not certaynly affirming any thing, but by conferring of times, languages, monumentes, and such like, I doe hunte out a probabilitye. 1781 W. Blane Ess. Hunt. (1788) 15 Or Spaniel, which will hunt out their master, or their master's horse distinctly from all others. 1881 J. Taylor Scot. Covenant. (Cassell) 128 To assist the soldiers in hunting out and butchering the hapless fugitives. |
12. hunt up: to prosecute the search for, until one finds; to pursue with eager investigation; to ‘look up’ (what is not found without energetic search). (See also 7.)
| 1791 W. Bartram Carolina 488 They enter..with a view of chasing the roebuck, and hunting up the sturdy bear. 1817 J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 265 If he finds them within three or four miles of his house, he thinks himself fortunate; but it sometimes happens that he is two days in ‘hunting them up’, as they term it. 1844 Alb. Smith Adv. Mr. Ledbury vii. (1886) 20 [He] employed his time in hunting up all the old students that he had known formerly. 1884 J. A. H. Murray in 13th Addr. Philol. Soc. 20 In..hunting up earlier quotations for recent words. |
13. to hunt change (
n. 9),
to h.
counter (
adv. 1),
to h. in couples (
n. 1 b),
to h. the foil (
n.4),
to h. at force (
n.1 22 a),
to h.
riot,
to h. at the view: see these words.
| 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Navy Land Ships, Huntsmanship Wks. i. 93/1 Allaye, Relaye, Foreloyning, Hunt⁓cownter, Hunt-change, Quarry, Reward, and a thousand more such Utopian fragments of confused Gibberish. |
III. 14. a. Comb. † hunt-counter, (in
Shakes. Folio)
app. taken as one who hunts counter or traces the scent backward: but the Qos. have ‘you hunt counter’,
i.e. you are on the wrong scent, you are off the track, which Nares and Schmidt accept;
† hunt-smock, one who ‘runs after’ women.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. ii. 102 You *Hunt-counter, hence: Auant. [1765 Johnson Note, Hunt-counter, that is blunderer.] |
| 1623 Massinger Bondman ii. i, Your rambling *hunt-smock feels strange alterations. |
b. In names of various games, as
hunt the fox,
hunt the hare = fox and hounds,
hare and hounds (
cf. fox n. 16 d,
hare n. 3 b);
hunt the slipper, a parlour game in which all the players but one sit in a ring and pass a slipper covertly from one to another, the remaining player standing in the middle and seeking to get hold of it;
hunt the squirrel, an outdoor game in which one player is chased by another who must follow all his windings in and out of a ring formed by the remaining players; also called
cat and mouse;
hunt the whistle, a game resembling
hunt the slipper, in which the seeker is blindfolded and has a whistle fastened to his dress, which the other players blow at intervals.
| 1762 in W. L. C. Etoniana xii. (1865) 179 [A list of Games popular at Eton in 1762 comprises] *Hunt the dark lanthorn [known also at Harrow]. |
| a 1600 in Strutt Sports & Past. iv. iv. 487 When we play and *hunt the fox, I outrun all the boys in the schoole. |
| 1825 Brockett, *Hunt-the-hare, a game among children—played on the ice as well as in the fields. |
| 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xi, Last of all, they sat down to *hunt the slipper. 1885 Athenæum 16 May 635/3 The courtiers, playing at ‘hunt the slipper’ in a very decorous manner. 1897 Daily News 5 May 5/3 When the game of hunt the slipper was broken off for the day, the Committee..took the evidence of Mr. Lionel Phillips. |
| 1742 H. Walpole Lett. to H. Mann 8 Oct., The raising of the siege of Prague, and Prince Charles and Marechal Maillebois playing at *hunt the squirrel, have disgusted me. 1883 Newell Games Amer. Childr. cxvii. (Cent). |
| 1757 Foote Author ii. Wks. 1799 I. 148 We ben't enough for *hunt the whistle, nor blind-man's buff. |