From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhunthunt1 /hʌnt/ ●●● W3 verb 1 [intransitive, transitive]CATCH to chase animals and birds in order to kill or catch them the slopes where I hunted deer as a kid Wolves tend to hunt in packs (=hunt in groups).2 [intransitive]LOOK FOR to look for someone or something very carefully SYN searchhunt for The kids were hunting for shells on the beach. Detectives are busy hunting for clues.► see thesaurus at search3 LOOK FOR[intransitive, transitive] to search for and try to catch a criminal or someone who is your enemy The police are still hunting the killer.hunt for The FBI were called in to hunt for the spy.4 [intransitive, transitive] British EnglishDSO to hunt foxes as a sport, riding on horses and using dogs → hunt somebody/something ↔ down → hunt somebody/something ↔ out→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
hunt• Ullman the Second, ruler of Crolgaria for thirty years, died unexpectedly in a riding accident yesterday while hunting.• Bears, it appeared, were hunted.• I hunted all morning for the book of photos, but couldn't find it.• The leopard hunts at night.• This isn't the season for hunting deer.• He chatted about the weather, the racing, the poor scent out hunting - did she hunt?• Many opponents of the regime who escaped abroad were later hunted down and killed.• Friends and neighbors hunted everywhere, but no-one could find the child.• The little tern's numbers have been threatened since Victorian times when it was hunted for its snow-white plumage.• Police are still hunting for the girl's killer.• They implicitly calculated the costs and benefits of hunting, gathering, and eating each other.hunt for• The kids were hunting for shells on the beach.• Police in three counties are hunting for the killer.• The hunt for the missing child continues today.hunthunt2 ●●○ noun [countable] 1 CATCHan occasion when people chase animals in order to kill or catch themlion/rhino/stag etc hunt2 [usually singular]LOOK FOR a search for someone or something that is difficult to findhunt for the hunt for the missing childthe hunt is on (=used to say that people have started looking for someone or something)murder hunt (=a search for a person who has killed someone)have a hunt around for something British English informal (=look for something) I’ll have a hunt around for it in my desk. → treasure hunt, witch-hunt3 DSOa sporting event in Britain in which people ride on horses and hunt foxes using dogs4 DSOin Britain, a group of people who regularly hunt foxes togetherExamples from the Corpus
hunt• How do you make a film of a man faking a documentary about a lion hunt?• Police have launched a nationwide hunt for the killer.• What had started out as a quest for metallic hydrogen now became a serious hunt for fusion.• Sometimes such hunts are dismissed and sometimes not.• Essentially Britain is abandoning the hunt for cannabis smugglers and dealers in a dramatic relaxation of policy on the drug.• The hunters were not even breaking even, yet the hunt continued despite the falling catches.lion/rhino/stag etc hunt• How do you make a film of a man faking a documentary about a lion hunt?• It is illustrated with drawings of buffalo, giraffe, warthog and camp scenes, and describes a rhino hunt.• The Legislature banned lion hunting in 1972, and voters afforded special protection with an initiative approved in 1990.• California has not allowed mountain lion hunting for nearly 25 years.• The controversy is heating up just days after voters overwhelmingly turned down a ballot proposition to increase mountain lion hunting.• I have also started to write about the lion hunt organized by Claudia for Waindell Leavitt.• Much of the money went to airing the videotape of the lion hunt, shot in Idaho six years ago.• The laibon believes that he can pinpoint the beginning of his troubles to this lion hunt.the hunt is on• The haul is worth more a hundred thousand pounds and the hunt is on for the owners.Origin hunt1 Old English huntian 