hunt

[[t]hʌ̱nt[/t]]

♦♦♦

hunts, hunting, hunted

1) VERB If you hunt for something or someone, you try to find them by searching carefully or thoroughly.

[V for n] A forensic team was hunting for clues...

[V for n] Some new arrivals lose hope even before they start hunting for a job...

[V for n] Chryssa hunted for Patra, and found her busy at a corner of the site. [Also V]

Syn:

search

N-COUNT

Hunt is also a noun.

The couple had helped in the hunt for the toddlers.

2) VERB If you hunt a criminal or an enemy, you search for them in order to catch or harm them.

[V n] Detectives have been hunting him for seven months...

[V n] Her irate husband was hunting him with a gun. [Also V for n]

N-COUNT: usu sing, oft N for n

Hunt is also a noun.

Despite a nationwide hunt for the kidnap gang, not a trace of them was found.

3) VERB When people or animals hunt, they chase and kill wild animals for food or as a sport.

As a child I learned to hunt and fish...

A leopard hunts alone, and an injured leopard cannot hunt...

[V n] He got up at four and set out on foot to hunt black grouse. [Also V for n]

N-COUNT: oft n N

Hunt is also a noun.

He set off for a nineteen-day moose hunt in Nova Scotia.

4) VERB In Britain, when people hunt, they ride horses over fields with dogs called hounds and try to catch and kill foxes, as a sport.

She liked to hunt as often as she could. [Also V n]

N-COUNT

Hunt is also a noun.

The hunt was held on land owned by the Duke of Marlborough.

5) N-COUNT In Britain, a hunt is a group of people who meet regularly to hunt foxes.

6) → See also , witch-hunt

Phrasal Verbs:

- hunt down

- hunt out