| 释义 |
▪ I. † hunt, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 1 hunta, 2–6 hunte, 4–5 honte, 4–6 hunt.
[OE. hunta hunter, huntsman (also hunting-spider) agent-n.:—OTeut. type *hunton-, app. from a weak-grade of the same root as hent (:—*hantjan), not exactly represented in the other Teut. langs. From its form, hunta is an old word, not a derivative of huntian hunt v., but app. rather its source.
The ablaut-stem *hent-, *hant-, *hunt- is identical in sense, and in origin evidently closely akin to henþ-, hanþ-, hunþ-, in Gothic hinþan to seize, capture, fra-hunþans captive, hunþs captivity, and OHG. hunda, OE. húð booty. But the interchange of þ and t (:— pre-Teut. t and d) is difficult to account for. On an apparent pre-Teut. change of nt to nd in these and some other words, see Prof. Napier in Mod. Quart. Lang. & Lit. July 1898, 130; cf. Brugmann Grundr. ed. 2, I. §701.]
A hunter; a huntsman. (In quot. 1000, a hunting-spider.) Common Hunt: see quot. 1707.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 144 Wiþ huntan bite, blace sneᵹlas on hattre pannan ᵹehyrste. c1131O.E. Chron. an. 1127 Ða huntes wæron swarte..& here hundes ealle swarte..& hi ridone on swarte hors. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 209 Þe deuel..henteð us alse hunte driueð deor to grune. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 357 Alle þe hontes schulde come wiþ her houndes. c1450Bk. Curtasye 629 in Babees Bk. 320 A halpeny þo hunte takes on þe day For euery hounde, þo sothe to say. 1566Drant Horace, Sat. i. i. A iij, The hungrye hunts muste haue it all. 1575Turbervile Bk. of Venerie 127 Then the chiefe hunte shall take his knyfe and cut off the deares ryght foote. 1700T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. Ser. & Com. 30 Would you buy the Common Hunt, the Common Cryers, the Bridge-Master's..Places? 1707Chamberlayne Pres. State Eng. 357 He [the Lord Mayor] hath four Officers that wait on him, who are reputed Esquires by their Places; that is, The Sword-Bearer. The Common-Hunt, who keepeth a good Kennel of Hounds for the Lord-Mayor's Recreation abroad. The Common Cryer. The Water Bailiff. 1807Dec. 17 Journal 84, Common Council of London, fol. 135 b, Motion thereupon made that the Office of Common Hunt be abolished, and eventually carried.
▪ II. hunt, n.2|hʌnt|
[f. hunt v.]
1. The act of hunting.
a. The act of chasing wild animals for the purpose of catching or killing them; the chase.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints, Julian 236 In ȝouthhede..he a day til hwntis ȝede. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1770 Ther nas no Tygre in the vale of Galgopheye..So crueel on the hunte. 1537[see hunt's up]. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. ii. ii. 1 The hunt is vp, the morne is bright and gray. Ibid. ii. iii. 19 Eccho mock's the Hounds,..As if a double hunt were heard at once. 1781W. Blane Ess. Hunt. (1788) 133 Why a Hare, towards the end of the hunt, is often difficult to be killed. 1869Trollope He knew etc. i. 5 [He] could not have ridden a hunt to save either his government or his credit.
b. fig. and gen. Pursuit, as of a wild animal; the act of strenuously seeking or endeavouring to find something; a search, esp. a diligent search. Also with adv., as a hunt-up.
1605Shakes. Lear ii. iii. 3, I heard my selfe proclaim'd, And by the happy hollow of a Tree, Escap'd the hunt. 1697tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 52 They were now upon the Hunt for him. 1764Foote Patron ii. Wks. 1799 I. 347 It is three months ago since I got the first scent of it, and I have been ever since on the hunt. 1818Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. viii. 659 On the hunt for appearances of guilt. 1852Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 194, I went off then on a new hunt for lodgings.
2. concr.
a. A body of persons (which may include also horses and dogs) engaged in, or associated for the purpose of, hunting with a pack of hounds; also, a hunting association.
1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 159 For feare of raungers, and the great hunt. 1687Dryden Hind & P. i. 27 The common hunt, though from their rage restrain'd..Grinn'd as they pass'd. 1762in Egerton-Warburton Hunt. Songs (1883) Introd. 14 The Orders of the Tarporley Hunt, November y⊇ 14th, 1762. 1787Burns Poems Ded., To the Noblemen and Gentlemen of the Caledonian Hunt. 1791‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsemen Pref. (1809) 55 They might ere now have belonged to the first hunts in the country. 1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 134 Foxes..have been poisoned..to the great annoyance of the hunts established in that county. 1887Sir R. H. Roberts In the Shires i. 7 She..is looked upon as a privileged person, a pet of the hunt. 1889Repent. P. Wentworth I. 56 To withdraw his subscription to the Hunt.
†b. That which is hunted; game killed in hunting: = chase n.1 4. Obs.
1588R. Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 17 In the which..is great quantitie of hunt and flying foules. 1611Shakes. Cymb. iii. vi. 90 Boyes wee'l go dresse our hunt.
c. The district over which a pack of hounds hunts. (Cf. chase n.1 3.)
1857in Art Taming Horses xi. (1859) 178 The celebrated ‘Haycock’ [inn].., standing..in the middle of the Fitzwilliam Hunt. 1882Field 28 Jan. 100/3 Every landowner within the hunt should be careful to preserve foxes. Mod. The property is situated within the Heythrop hunt.
3. Change-ringing. (See quot. and cf. hunt v. 7.)
1684R. H. School of Recreation 93 In all Peals upon five Bells there are two Hunts, to wit, a whole and an half-Hunt. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 462/2 The First, or Treble Bell, it is termed the Hunt, and the Second Bell the half Hunt, because they run from the round Ringing, through all the change of Bells backwards and forewards, before they come to round Ringing againe.
4. A hunting or oscillatory motion (see hunt v. 7 b, hunting vbl. n. 1 f).
1920Nature 11 Mar. 46/1 It moves backwards and forwards very slightly, and this motion we term the ‘hunt’. 1934Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. XXIV. 399 The ‘angle of hunt’, i.e. the angle of oscillation about the mean radial velocity, cannot exceed 360/N degrees, where N is the number of segments in the armature. 1937Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLI. 410 The well behaved short period oscillation develops into an irritating hunt. 1952A. Tustin Automatic & Manual Control 280 If the amplitude is not too large, and..we know how to reduce the amplitude by increasing the hunt frequency, it is possible to check a mean position of the system.
5. Telephony. An operation of hunting by a selector or switch (see hunting vbl. n. 1 g).
1927W. E. Hudson Director Syst. Autom. Telephony ii. 42 Relay C..is used to determine when the impulse train is finished so as to allow the automatic hunt to start. 1966Rubin & Haller Communication Switching Syst. i. 31 The hunt motion is a vertical move of the wipers along the contact bank.
6. attrib. and Comb., as hunt-breakfast, hunt-button, hunt-dinner, hunt-servant; hunt-weary adj.; hunt ball, a ball given by members of a hunt; † hunt-beast, a beast of the chase; hunt-sergeant, an officer of Massachusetts in the colonial and provincial period, who had charge of the hunts (carried on with hounds) for hostile Indians; † hunt-spear, a hunting-spear.
1807Sporting Mag. XXXI. 40/1 The annual *Hunt Ball took place at Chepstow. 1853Mrs. Gaskell Ruth I. i. 13 The annual hunt-ball was to take place. 1933A. Powell From View to Death iv. 113 Ungainly young men who had had a glass too much of champagne at hunt-ball suppers. 1968A. Diment Bang Bang Birds x. 193 Penny told us about a hunt ball she had attended recently. 1973K. Giles File on Death iv. 90 'E provides the catering for the 'unt ball at seven guineas the ticket.
1535Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 480 He ordanit..That na *hunt beist with schutting sould be slane.
1877Trollope Amer. Senator II. xxiv. 254 That old farmer at the *hunt breakfast. 1897Daily Tel. 23 Nov. 9/3 A hunt-breakfast was given to the followers of the East Kent foxhounds. 1973K. Giles File on Death v. 133 The other one..kept pawing the ladies..and falling off his horse after the Hunt Breakfast.
1859Art Taming Horses xi. 183 Scarlet-coated, many with the Brocklesby *hunt button.
1844Disraeli Coningsby iii. v, It was at the *Hunt dinner.
1706–7Acts Prov. Mass. Bay (ed. Goodell) l. 599 Persons who shall..have them [hounds] at all times in readiness to attend the *hunt serjeant.
1894Sir J. D. Astley 50 Years Life II. 5 Horses, hounds, and *hunt-servants have never been better turned out.
1594Marlowe & Nashe Dido iii. M.'s Wks. (Rtldg.) 263/2 Ascanius..Bearing his *hunt-spear bravely in his hand.
a1831Clough Ess. Class. Metres, Actaeon 4 Artemis..alone, *hunt-weary, Unto a dell..her foot unerring Had guided.
Add:6. hunt sab colloq. = *hunt saboteur below; also as v. intr., to act as a hunt saboteur (pres. pple. in quot.); cf. *sab n.2
1981N.Y. Times 11 Feb. c1/5 The ‘*hunt sabs’, as they call themselves, are mostly young, and many are vegetarians. 1986Peace News 20 June 5/1 Sixty odd Hunt Sabs..talking and debating with the forty-strong hunt. 1986G. F. Newman Set Thief 8 In a village..where she had been hunt sabbing.., it [sc. the car] had been almost totally vandalized by hunt supporters.
hunt saboteur, a person whose intention is to disrupt a hunt.
1964Western Times (Exeter) 8 May 9/7 A broken jaw is said to be one of the relics *hunt saboteurs took away with them from a meet of the Culmstock Otter Hunt at Colyford on Saturday. 1986Financial Times 20 Oct. 1/1 Police are investigating clashes between hunt saboteurs and the North Surrey and Sussex Beagles at Lingfield.
hunt saboteuse rare, a female hunt saboteur.
1977‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon xi. 215 ‘Polluters,’ said the hunt saboteuse.
▪ III. hunt, v.|hʌnt|
Forms: 1 huntian, 2–3 huntien, hunten, 3–7 hunte, 4– hunt; (also 3–4 hont(e, hounte, 4 hownte, Sc. hwnt, 4–6 hount, 5 honte).
[OE. huntian:—OTeut. type *huntôjan, stem of f. *hunton-, OE. hunta, hunt n.1]
I.
1. a. intr. To go in pursuit of wild animals or game; to engage in the chase. Also of animals: To pursue their prey.
c1000ælfric Colloq. in Wr.-Wülcker 92/11 Ne canst þu huntian buton mid nettum. c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 172 Gif him þince þæt he huntiᵹe, beorᵹe him ᵹeorne wið his fynd. c1131O.E. Chron. an. 1127 Þa sæᵹon & herdon fela men feole huntes hunten. c1205Lay. 1432 Ȝe huntieð i þes kinges friðe. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 256/5 Ase he hountede In a dai In Iolifte j-nouȝ. a1300Cursor M. 3519 Esau went for till hunt. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. i. (Bodl. MS.), Some [beasts] hunteþ by nyȝt. a1400Octouian 891 To hounty yn ech mannys boundes Hyt was hys wone. 1513More Rich. III (1883) 3 [He] sente for the Mayre and Aldermenne of London to hym..too haue them hunte and bee mery with hym. 1665Hooke Microgr. 201, I have beheld them instructing their young ones, how to hunt. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 270 The dog kinds..love to hunt in company. 1841Lane Arab. Nts. I. 91 One day the son went forth to hunt.
b. With prepositions (after, † to, † at, for). (Now blending with 3 a.)
c1200Ormin 13467 Þatt teȝȝ sholldenn hunntenn Acc nohht wiþþ hundess affterr der Acc affterr menn wiþþ spelless. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 981 Dido, Ony wilde bor..That they han huntid to in this foreste. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xiv. 63 Grete plentee of wylde bestes for to hunt at. c1450Merlin 183 Yo do nought elles..but hunte after the hare thourgh the feldes. 1486Bk. St. Albans E ij b, When ye hunt at the Roo. 1697W. Dampier Voy. I. i. 9 Walks out into the Woods, and hunts about for Pecary, Warree..or Deer. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 156 Training them up to hunt for fish.
fig.1567Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 184 Sa thay think to bleir ȝour E, And syne at ȝow to hount.
2. trans. To pursue (wild animals or game) for the purpose of catching or killing; to chase for food or sport; often spec. to pursue with hounds or other tracking beasts. Also said of animals chasing their prey.
c1000ælfric Hom. I. 576 Ic asende..mine huntan, and hi huntiað hi of ælcere dune and of ælcere hylle. c1275Lay. 1423 Corineus was to wode ivare for hunti deor wilde. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints, Placidas 86 He went to hont Þe auld bestis, as he wes wont. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. vi. (Bodl. MS.), Scheo [the owl] hunteþ and eeteþ myes and reremyesse. Ibid. xiii, Swalewes þat fleeþ in þe aiere hunteþ flies. 1486Bk. St. Albans E iv a, All other beestys that huntid shall be. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 1 The King he is hunting the Deare. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 414 The proper Time..T'inclose the Stags in Toyls, and Hunt the Hare. 1788W. Blane Hunt. Excurs. 16 The hunting the wild buffaloe is also performed by shooting him from elephants. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 45 To hunt the elk, deer, and ahsahta or bighorn. 1859Art Taming Horses xii. 203 When the hounds hunt anything beside fox the word is ‘Ware Riot’.
3. fig. and gen.
a. intr. To search, seek (after or for anything), esp. with eagerness and exertion.
c1200[see 1 b]. a1225Ancr. R. 66 Heo hunteð efter pris. a1240Ureisun in Cott. Hom. 203 Hwuder schal ich fleon hwon þe deouel hunteð efter me. c1305St. Lucy 119 in E.E.P. (1862) 104 Hit is al for noȝt þat þu huntest aboute. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 60 Sathanas & his mynysters, whiche dayly hunteth to take thy soule. 1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Thess. 3 We hunted so litell for rewarde at your handes. 1722Wollaston Relig. Nat. ix. 211 Hunting after knowledge which must perish with them. 1830De Quincey Bentley Wks. VI. 171 Hunting backward, upon the dimmest traces, into the aboriginal condition of things. 1862Mrs. H. Wood Mrs. Hallib. i. iii. 15 Spending all his superfluous minutes hunting for a house. 1895Law Times C. 3/1 The judge and Master Macdonell hunted through the White Book, and unearthed a rule sufficiently elastic.
b. trans. To go eagerly in search of, search for, seek (esp. with desire and diligence); to endeavour to capture, obtain, or find.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints, Placidas 126 And þi gud dedis causis me, As þou me huntis, to hont þe. 1573Satir. Poems Reform. xli. 19 He neuer huntit benefice, Nor catchit was with Couatice. 1648J. Beaumont Psyche i. ccxxxv, He therefore through close paths of wary hast Hunts his escape. 1753J. Bartram in Darlington Mem. (1849) 195 Next morning..we hunted plants till breakfast. 1818E. P. Fordham Pers. Narr. Trav. (1906) 221 The next day I shall cross the Little Wabash to ‘hunt land’. 1834Visit to Texas i. 10 An old Tennessean and his wife with their sons were going ‘to hunt land’. Ibid. xiii. 122 He sometimes sends out three or four men to collect and mark them. This is called hunting cattle. 1891M. E. Ryan Told in Hills iv. iii. 309 All were sleepy enough to hunt beds early. 1894Baring-Gould Deserts S. France I. 140 It [the truffle] is hunted regularly by trained dogs. 1903A. Adams Log of Cowboy iii. 38 Flood..suggested that all hands hunt their blankets and turn in for the night.
c. To follow (as a hound does); to track.
1579E. K. Ep. Spenser's Sheph. Cal., In regard wherof, I scorne and spue out the rakehellye route of our ragged rymers (for so themselues vse to hunt the letter). 1590Spenser F.Q. i. i. 11 That path..Which when by tract they hunted had throughout At length it brought them to a hollowe cave. 1847Tennyson Princ. ii. 368 ‘They hunt old trails’ said Cyril ‘very well; But when did woman ever yet invent?’ 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. xxxii. 417, I hunted the seams still farther up the glacier.
4. a. trans. To pursue with force, violence, or hostility; to chase and drive before one; to put to flight; to chase or drive away or out. (See huntaway n.)
c1340Cursor M. 13658 (Trin.) Þei huntid him as a dogge Riȝt out of her synagogge. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 2414 Phyllis, So huntith hym the tempest to and fro. 1484Caxton Curiall 3 She is by force hunted away. 1535Coverdale Ps. cxxxix. [cxl.] 11 A malicious and wicked person shal be hunted awaye and destroyed. 1582N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. li. 110 To hunt them foorth lyke theeues. 1642Rogers Naaman 31 The Lord would hunt her out of it. 1808Scott Life Dryden iv, He might lay his account with being hunted out of society. 1886R. C. Leslie Sea-painter's Log 25 They are hunted by ‘the bobby’ from place to place.
b. fig. To pursue with injury or annoyance; to persecute, pester, worry.
1583Hollyband Campo di Fior 387 But hunger hunteth me. 1678Otway Friendship in F. ii. i, He hunts and kisses you when he is drunk. 1807–8W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 38 When..I choose to hunt a Monsieur for my own particular amusement. 1860Hawthorne Marb. Faun (1879) II. viii. 90 These pests..had hunted the two travellers at every stage of their journey.
5. To scour (a district) in pursuit of game; spec. to make (a district) the field of fox-hunting; hence, fig. to search (a place) thoroughly and keenly for something which one hopes to find there; to examine every nook and cranny of.
a1440Sir Degrev. 174, I wulle ffore thy lordes tene, Honte hys fforesstus and grene. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 121 The Citizens have free libertie of hunting a certeyne circuite aboute London. 1712Swift Let. 28 Oct., I must now go hunt those dry letters for materials. 1834Medwin Angler in Wales I. 101 Let us hunt the waterfalls higher up. 1875G. J. Whyte-Melville Riding Recoll. i. (1879) 9 When he [Sir R. Sutton] hunted the Cottesmore country. Mod. I have hunted the house for it, but cannot lay my hands on it.
6. To use or employ in hunting; to ride (a horse), direct or manage (hounds), in the chase.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 117 The time of teaching a Gray-hound..Some hunt them at ten months, if they be males, and at eight months, if they be female. 1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4465/6 The Owner..to certify, that his Horse was constantly Hunted the last Season. 1735Somerville Chase i. 83 To rear, feed, hunt, and discipline the Pack. 1857Ld. Malmesbury Mem. Ex-minister (1884) II. 80 In consequence of his always hunting his pointers down wind. 1875G. J. Whyte-Melville Riding Recoll. i. (1879) 6 He hunts one pack of his own hounds in Northamptonshire. 1889in Horse & Hound 24 Aug. 516/2 Horses described as ‘hunters’..must have been hunted, and be capable of being hunted.
7. a. Change-ringing. To alter the position of (a bell) in successive changes so as to shift it by degrees from the first place to the last (hunting up), or from the last to the first (hunting down). Also absol. or intr.
1684R. H. School Recreat. 92 So by turns, 'till every Bell being hunted up and down, comes into its proper Place again. Ibid. 96 Whatsoever Bells you follow when you Hunt up, the same Bells in the same order you must follow in Hunting down. 1880C. A. W. Troyte in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 334 The bells work in regular order from being first bell to being last, striking two blows as first and two as last: this is called by ringers ‘hunting up and down’.
b. intr. Of a governor, a synchronous electric motor or generator, etc.: to run alternately faster and more slowly than the desired speed. Hence more widely of other machines, systems, etc.: to oscillate about a desired speed, position, or state to an undesirable extent, to jump backwards and forwards.
1877Proc. Inst. Mech. Engin. 273 Siemens' interesting governor..had..a great tendency to ‘hunt’,..if it was first left a little behind, and then got an excess of force, it would be constantly ‘hunting’ or oscillating about a mean position. 1894Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 759 A Watt governor..does not hunt if designed for stability. 1902Trans. Amer. Inst. Electr. Engin. XVIII. 374/2 The motors attempt to follow the generator exactly. If the latter pulsates, the motors pulsate also; they vibrate about a mean position, ‘hunting’ or pumping. 1921M. Walker Diagn. Troubles Electr. Machines vi. 239 In the case of steam turbines and steam engines, it is possible for the governor to hunt in a perfectly periodic manner. 1951S. Deutsch Theory & Design Television Receivers xiii. 431 If the feedback loop is underdamped, the oscillator frequency will swing below 15,750 cycles per second, whereupon the correcting voltage causes a swing above 15,750 cycles per second, etc. In other words, the oscillator will ‘hunt’ about the correct frequency. 1953Electronic Engin. XXV. 156/1 Since the torque balance has an on-off action..it has a tendency to hunt. 1969Daily Tel. 10 Jan. 26/4 The British train will be able to use existing railway tracks because of a new type of suspension... This will stop the train ‘hunting’ sideways. 1969J. Argenti Managem. Techniques 99 If the action is too late or too weak, control will be inadequate, if too early or too strong the system will ‘hunt’—i.e. swing violently above and below the standard. 1970‘J. Earl’ Tuners & Amplifiers iii. 74 On weak stereo signals this circuit can ‘hunt’ over mono and stereo in a very disconcerting manner, switching to stereo as the signal rises and back to mono as it falls.
8. To call upon (a person) to fill up or drink off his glass: chase v.1 4.
1780Bannatyne in Mirror No. 76 ⁋11 Umphraville received a slap on the shoulder from one of the company, who at the same time reminded him that he was hunted. My friend..thanked the gentleman..for his attention, and drank off his bumper.
9. Telephony. Of a selector or switch: to carry out the operation of hunting (hunting vbl. n. 1 g). Const. for, over.
1924W. Aitken Autom. Telephone Syst. III. lvi. 275 Dialling O..results in the starting of a free-trunk finder, which automatically hunts for the calling line. 1924H. H. Harrison Introd. Strowger Syst. Autom. Telephony i. 26 The preselector or line switch..hunts to find one of ten or more idle group selectors. 1933K. B. Miller Telephone Theory & Pract. III. v. 250 It is usual to adjust the speed to permit the selector to hunt over a group of 30 trunks in 1 second. 1961Proc. Inst. Electr. Engin. CVII. b. Suppl. 161/2 A maximum of 1·8 millisec is required to select a channel,..and a further period of 900 microsec to hunt for a free channel.
II. Phrases.
10. hunt down.
a. To chase (an animal) until caught or killed; to run to earth, to bring to bay; fig. to pursue and overcome or destroy; also, to pursue until one gets possession or mastery of. (See also 7.)
a1719Addison (J.), We should single every criminal out of the herd, and hunt him down. 1816Keatinge Trav. (1817) I. 291 Errors, popular or not, are lawful game, and free to every one to hunt down. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 217 Refusing to spy out and hunt down little congregations of Nonconformists. 1877E. R. Conder Bas. Faith iv. 150 Let us..try to hunt down this fugitive question.
b. N.Z. (See quot. 1933.)
1933L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 28 Oct. 17/7 Hunt down, to hunt the sheep off the higher parts of their winter country on to lower, safer spurs when snow is expected; e.g., ‘We hunted down every day for a week, but no snow came.’ 1961B. Crump Hang on a Minute 85, I want you blokes to go round to the Snow Hut and hunt the sheep down into the valley from the open spur.
11. hunt out: to expel or drive from cover or shelter by hunting or persistent search; to track out; to arrive at or discover by investigation.
1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 128 Except he hath taken flight into Dalmatia, from whence (notwithstanding he lurk for a season) we intend to hunt him out. 1596Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 626/1 Not certaynly affirming any thing, but by conferring of times, languages, monumentes, and such like, I doe hunte out a probabilitye. 1781W. Blane Ess. Hunt. (1788) 15 Or Spaniel, which will hunt out their master, or their master's horse distinctly from all others. 1881J. Taylor Scot. Covenant. (Cassell) 128 To assist the soldiers in hunting out and butchering the hapless fugitives.
12. hunt up: to prosecute the search for, until one finds; to pursue with eager investigation; to ‘look up’ (what is not found without energetic search). (See also 7.)
1791W. Bartram Carolina 488 They enter..with a view of chasing the roebuck, and hunting up the sturdy bear. 1817J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 265 If he finds them within three or four miles of his house, he thinks himself fortunate; but it sometimes happens that he is two days in ‘hunting them up’, as they term it. 1844Alb. Smith Adv. Mr. Ledbury vii. (1886) 20 [He] employed his time in hunting up all the old students that he had known formerly. 1884J. A. H. Murray in 13th Addr. Philol. Soc. 20 In..hunting up earlier quotations for recent words.
13. to hunt change (n. 9), to h. counter (adv. 1), to h. in couples (n. 1 b), to h. the foil (n.4), to h. at force (n.1 22 a), to h. riot, to h. at the view: see these words.
1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Navy Land Ships, Huntsmanship Wks. i. 93/1 Allaye, Relaye, Foreloyning, Hunt⁓cownter, Hunt-change, Quarry, Reward, and a thousand more such Utopian fragments of confused Gibberish.
III. 14. a. Comb. † hunt-counter, (in Shakes. Folio) app. taken as one who hunts counter or traces the scent backward: but the Qos. have ‘you hunt counter’, i.e. you are on the wrong scent, you are off the track, which Nares and Schmidt accept; † hunt-smock, one who ‘runs after’ women.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. ii. 102 You *Hunt-counter, hence: Auant. [1765Johnson Note, Hunt-counter, that is blunderer.]
1623Massinger Bondman ii. i, Your rambling *hunt-smock feels strange alterations.
b. In names of various games, as hunt the fox, hunt the hare = fox and hounds, hare and hounds (cf. fox n. 16 d, hare n. 3 b); hunt the slipper, a parlour game in which all the players but one sit in a ring and pass a slipper covertly from one to another, the remaining player standing in the middle and seeking to get hold of it; hunt the squirrel, an outdoor game in which one player is chased by another who must follow all his windings in and out of a ring formed by the remaining players; also called cat and mouse; hunt the whistle, a game resembling hunt the slipper, in which the seeker is blindfolded and has a whistle fastened to his dress, which the other players blow at intervals.
1762in W. L. C. Etoniana xii. (1865) 179 [A list of Games popular at Eton in 1762 comprises] *Hunt the dark lanthorn [known also at Harrow].
a1600in Strutt Sports & Past. iv. iv. 487 When we play and *hunt the fox, I outrun all the boys in the schoole.
1825Brockett, *Hunt-the-hare, a game among children—played on the ice as well as in the fields.
1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xi, Last of all, they sat down to *hunt the slipper. 1885Athenæum 16 May 635/3 The courtiers, playing at ‘hunt the slipper’ in a very decorous manner. 1897Daily News 5 May 5/3 When the game of hunt the slipper was broken off for the day, the Committee..took the evidence of Mr. Lionel Phillips.
1742H. Walpole Lett. to H. Mann 8 Oct., The raising of the siege of Prague, and Prince Charles and Marechal Maillebois playing at *hunt the squirrel, have disgusted me. 1883Newell Games Amer. Childr. cxvii. (Cent).
1757Foote Author ii. Wks. 1799 I. 148 We ben't enough for *hunt the whistle, nor blind-man's buff. |
