v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Hunted; p. pr. & vb. n. Hunting. ] [ AS. huntian to hunt; cf. hentan to follow, pursue, Goth. hin&unr_;an (in comp.) to seize. √36. Cf. Hent. ] 1. To search for or follow after, as game or wild animals; to chase; to pursue for the purpose of catching or killing; to follow with dogs or guns for sport or exercise; as, to hunt a deer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like a dog, he hunts in dreams. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To search diligently after; to seek; to pursue; to follow; -- often with out or up; as, to hunt up the facts; to hunt out evidence. [ 1913 Webster ]

Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him. Ps. cxl. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To drive; to chase; -- with down, from, away, etc.; as, to hunt down a criminal; he was hunted from the parish. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To use or manage in the chase, as hounds. [ 1913 Webster ]

He hunts a pack of dogs. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To use or traverse in pursuit of game; as, he hunts the woods, or the country. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Change Ringing) To move or shift the order of (a bell) in a regular course of changes. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. 1. The act or practice of chasing wild animals; chase; pursuit; search. [ 1913 Webster ]

The hunt is up; the morn is bright and gray. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The game secured in the hunt. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A pack of hounds. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. An association of huntsmen. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A district of country hunted over. [ 1913 Webster ]

Every landowner within the hunt. London Field. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To follow the chase; to go out in pursuit of game; to course with hounds. [ 1913 Webster ]

Esau went to the field to hunt for venison. Gen. xxvii. 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To seek; to pursue; to search; -- with for or after. [ 1913 Webster ]

He after honor hunts, I after love. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mach.) To be in a state of instability of movement or forced oscillation, as a governor which has a large movement of the balls for small change of load, an arc-lamp clutch mechanism which moves rapidly up and down with variations of current, or the like; also, to seesaw, as a pair of alternators working in parallel. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

4. (Change Ringing) To shift up and down in order regularly. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

To hunt counter, to trace the scent backward in hunting, as a hound to go back on one's steps. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A worthless dog that runs back on the scent; a blunderer. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. hunta. ] A hunter. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who hunts wild animals either for sport or for food; a huntsman. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A dog that scents game, or is trained to the chase; a hunting dog. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A horse used in the chase; especially, a thoroughbred, bred and trained for hunting. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. One who hunts or seeks after anything, as if for game; as, a fortune hunter a place hunter. [ 1913 Webster ]

No keener hunter after glory breathes. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Zool.) A kind of spider. See Hunting spider, under Hunting. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A hunting watch, or one of which the crystal is protected by a metallic cover. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hunter's room, the lunation after the harvest moon. --
Hunter's screw (Mech.), a differential screw, so named from the inventor. See under Differential. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Discovered or described by John Hunter, an English surgeon; as, the Hunterian chancre. See Chancre. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The pursuit of game or of wild animals. A. Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

Happy hunting grounds, the region to which, according to the belief of American Indians, the souls of warriors and hunters pass after death, to be happy in hunting and feasting. Tylor. --
Hunting box. Same As Hunting lodge (below). --
Hunting cat (Zool.), the cheetah. --
Hunting cog (Mach.), a tooth in the larger of two geared wheels which makes its number of teeth prime to the number in the smaller wheel, thus preventing the frequent meeting of the same pairs of teeth. --
Hunting dog (Zool.), the hyena dog. --
Hunting ground, a region or district abounding in game; esp. (pl.), the regions roamed over by the North American Indians in search of game. --
Hunting horn, a bulge; a horn used in the chase. See Horn, and Bulge. --
Hunting leopard (Zool.), the cheetah. --
Hunting lodge, a temporary residence for the purpose of hunting. --
Hunting seat, a hunting lodge. Gray. --
Hunting shirt, a coarse shirt for hunting, often of leather. --
Hunting spider (Zool.), a spider which hunts its prey, instead of catching it in a web; a wolf spider. --
Hunting watch. See Hunter, 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A woman who hunts or follows the chase; as, the huntress Diana. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Huntsmen 1. One who hunts, or who practices hunting. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The person whose office it is to manage the chase or to look after the hounds. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

Huntsman's cup (Bot.), the sidesaddle flower, or common American pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea). [ 1913 Webster ]