ˈhunting-ground
[f. hunting vbl. n.]
a. A district or tract of country adapted for hunting, or in which hunting is practised.
| 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. (1783) II. 61 Tribes seated on..hunting-grounds abounding so much with game, that they have a regular and plentiful supply of nourishment with little labour. 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville II. 18 All the fastnesses, defiles, and favourable hunting grounds of the country. 1874 Green Short Hist. ii. §4. 72 Thousands of Hampshire peasants were driven from their homes to make him a hunting-ground. |
b. fig. A place (book, etc.) made the scene of any kind of hunt or search, or containing a supply of something for which one hunts.
| 1877 Lady C. Schreiber Jrnl. 22 Mar. (1911) II. 6 Our favourite hunting-ground, Holland, appeared particularly fruitful. 1880 Academy 21 Aug. 133/3 The Moyen de Parvenir was a favourite hunting-ground of the author of Tristram Shandy. 1888 Daily News 15 Sept. 2/5 The hunting ground of pickpockets. |
c. happy hunting-ground(s: those expected by the American Indians in the world to come; hence, the future state. Also fig. a favourable place for hunting, collecting, or making acquisitions.
| 1826 J. F. Cooper Last of Mohicans (1831) 400 A young man has gone to the happy hunting grounds. 1836 W. Irving Astoria (1849) 249 They will see the happy hunting-grounds, with the souls of the brave and good living in tents in green meadows. 1890 Gunter Miss Nobody v, That he may send them to the happy hunting grounds also. 1894 Maskelyne Sharps & Flats i. 6 At the present moment England is the happy hunting-ground of the swindling fraternity. 1938 D. du Maurier Rebecca ii. 13 My faithful Jasper has gone to the happy hunting grounds. 1972 Nature 17 Mar. 98/1 The effect of liquid sodium on other metals has been a particularly happy hunting ground for chemists. |