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Definition of hunt verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

hunt

verb
 
/hʌnt/
 
/hʌnt/
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they hunt
 
/hʌnt/
 
/hʌnt/
he / she / it hunts
 
/hʌnts/
 
/hʌnts/
past simple hunted
 
/ˈhʌntɪd/
 
/ˈhʌntɪd/
past participle hunted
 
/ˈhʌntɪd/
 
/ˈhʌntɪd/
-ing form hunting
 
/ˈhʌntɪŋ/
 
/ˈhʌntɪŋ/
Phrasal Verbs
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  1. [intransitive, transitive] to go after wild animals in order to catch or kill them for food, sport or to make money
    • Lions sometimes hunt alone.
    • hunt something Whales are still being hunted and killed in the Arctic.
    • hunt for something Cavemen had to hunt for their food.
    • They watched the bald eagles hunting for fish.
    • hunt something for something The animals are hunted for their fur.
    • Turtles are illegally hunted for their eggs, meat and shells.
    Extra Examples
    • Porpoises were still being actively hunted in Greenland.
    • The animals come out at night to hunt for mice and other small animals.
    • The whales were heavily hunted by British commercial whalers.
    • It is now illegal to hunt otters.
    Topics Sports: other sportsb1
  2. [intransitive] to look for something that is difficult to find synonym search
    • hunt for something She is still hunting for a new job.
    • + adv./prep. I've hunted everywhere but I can't find it.
    • After spending half an hour hunting through the boxes, he had still found nothing.
    see also job-hunt
    Extra Examples
    • desperately hunting for a new job
    • I spent an hour hunting for all the documents.
    • She was hunting through her bag for her keys.
  3. [transitive, intransitive] to look for somebody in order to catch them or harm them
    • hunt somebody Police are hunting an escaped criminal.
    • hunt for somebody Detectives are hunting for thieves who broke into a warehouse yesterday.
  4. [intransitive, transitive] hunt (something) (in the UK) to go after and kill foxes as a sport, riding horses and using dogs. Fox hunting with dogs has been illegal in England and Wales since 2005, but people still ride out with dogs following a scent trail, without an actual fox.
    • They hunt when they stay with friends in Ireland.
  5. Word OriginOld English huntian, of Germanic origin.
See hunt in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee hunt in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
sufficiently
adverb
 
 
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