HUNTING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does hunting mean? 

• HUNTING (noun)
  The noun HUNTING has 3 senses:

1. the pursuit and killing or capture of wild animals regarded as a sport

2. the activity of looking thoroughly in order to find something or someone

3. the work of finding and killing or capturing animals for food or pelts

  Familiarity information: HUNTING used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HUNTING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The pursuit and killing or capture of wild animals regarded as a sport

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

hunt; hunting

Hypernyms ("hunting" is a kind of...):

blood sport (sport that involves killing animals (especially hunting))

field sport; outdoor sport (a sport that is played outdoors)

Domain member category:

drive ((hunting) chase from cover into more open ground)

gin (trap with a snare)

ensnare; entrap; snare; trammel; trap (catch in or as if in a trap)

batfowl (catch birds by temporarily blinding them)

bag (capture or kill, as in hunting)

drive ((hunting) search for game)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hunting"):

beagling (hunting rabbits with beagles)

coursing (hunting with dogs (usually greyhounds) that are trained to chase game (such as hares) by sight instead of by scent)

deer hunt; deer hunting (hunting deer)

duck hunting; ducking (hunting ducks)

fox hunting; foxhunt (mounted hunters follow hounds in pursuit of a fox)

pigsticking (the sport of hunting wild boar with spears)

battue (a hunt in which beaters force the game to flee in the direction of the hunter)

Derivation:

hunt (pursue for food or sport (as of wild animals))

hunt (search (an area) for prey)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The activity of looking thoroughly in order to find something or someone

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

hunt; hunting; search

Hypernyms ("hunting" is a kind of...):

activity (any specific behavior)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hunting"):

exploration (a careful systematic search)

forage; foraging (the act of searching for food and provisions)

frisk; frisking (the act of searching someone for concealed weapons or illegal drugs)

looking; looking for (the act of searching visually)

manhunt (an organized search (by police) for a person (charged with a crime))

quest; seeking (the act of searching for something)

ransacking; rummage (a thorough search for something (often causing disorder or confusion))

scouring (moving over territory to search for something)

shakedown (a very thorough search of a person or a place)

Derivation:

hunt (seek, search for)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The work of finding and killing or capturing animals for food or pelts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

hunt; hunting

Hypernyms ("hunting" is a kind of...):

labor; labour; toil (productive work (especially physical work done for wages))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hunting"):

predation (the act of preying by a predator who kills and eats the prey)

birdnesting (hunting for birds' nests to get the eggs)

stalk; stalking; still hunt (a hunt for game carried on by following it stealthily or waiting in ambush)

canned hunt (a hunt for animals that have been raised on game ranches until they are mature enough to be killed for trophy collections)

Derivation:

hunt (pursue for food or sport (as of wild animals))

 Context examples 

He is big enough and old enough to look after himself, and if he is so foolish as to lose himself, I entirely refuse to accept the responsibility of hunting for him.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The two played together, and loved each other with all their hearts, and the old cook went out hunting like a nobleman.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“Ha! Our party is complete,” said Holmes, buttoning up his pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Also, they had not expected to winter in the cabin, and the food was running low; nor could Hans add to the supply by hunting.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The men were all on deck and busy preparing their various boats for the season’s hunting.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

From what I can collect, he left Derbyshire only one day after ourselves, and came to town with the resolution of hunting for them.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Its location in the sky (as seen from Earth) places it near the Sun - an area of sky not usually scanned by the large ground-based asteroid surveys or NASA's asteroid-hunting NEOWISE spacecraft.

(Newly Discovered Comet Is Likely Interstellar Visitor, NASA)

Scientists from Yale University report they managed to trigger instinctive hunting behavior in mice using optogenetics, a manner of priming cells within an organism's brain to switch on when exposed to a laser.

(Geneticists produce laser-activated killer mice, Wikinews)

A muscular hunting hound with a short, hard coat, usually lemon and white, red and white, or white and tan.

(Harrier, NCI Thesaurus)

I'll take him in a line when we go treasure-hunting, for we'll keep him like so much gold, in case of accidents, you mark, and in the meantime.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)