(hunt) v.t.
1. To pursue (game or other wild animals) for the purpose of killing or catching.
2 a To search (a region) for game. b To search (a place): to hunt a room.
3. To search for diligently; look for.
4. To manage or use in hunting: to hunt a pack of hounds.
5. To chase or drive away; pursue.
6. To persecute; harass.
—v.i.
7. To pursue game or other wild animals; follow the chase.
8. To make a search; seek.
9. Aeron. To make weaving motions about its normal flight path, as an aircraft or guided missile.
10. Mech. To run alternately fast and slow owing to unsteady action in the governor: said of stationary, engines, etc.
—to hunt down
1. To pursue until caught or killed.
2. To search for until found.
—to hunt up
1. To search for until found.
2. To go in search of.
—noun
1. The act .of hunting game; chase.
2. A search.
3. An association of huntsmen; the participants in a hunt.
4. A district hunted over.
—still hunt
1. A hunting for game in quiet manner.
2. Any quiet and cautious hunt for something. [OE huntian] Synonyms (noun): chase, hunting, inquisition, pursuit, search. A hunt may be either the act of pursuing or the act of seeking, or a combination of the two. A chase or pursuit is after that which is fleeing or departing; a search is for that which is hidden; a hunt may be for that which is either hidden or fleeing; a search is a minute and careful seeking, and is especially applied to a locality; we make a search of or through a house, for an object, in which connection it would be colloquial to say a hunt. Hunt never quite loses its association with field sports, where it includes both search and chase; the search till the game is hunted out, and the chase till it is hunted down. Figuratively, we speak of literary pursuits, or of the pursuit of knowledge; a search for reasons; the chase of fame or honor; hunt, in figurative use, inclines to the unfavorable sense of inquisition, but with aggressiveness; as, a hunt for heresy.

(hunt), (James Henry) Leigh,
1784–1859, English poet and essayist.
—William Holman
See HOLMAN–HUNT.