Adjacent Words

Hunting definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

HUNT'ING, ppr. Chasing for seizure; pursuing; seeking; searching.
HUNT'ING, n. The act or practice of pursuing wild animals, for catching or killing them. Hunting was originally practiced by men for the purpose of procuring food, as it still is by uncivilized nations. But among civilized men, it is practiced mostly for exercise or diversion, or for the destruction of noxious animals,as in America.
1. A pursuit; a seeking.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the pursuit and killing or capture of wild animals regarded as a sport [syn: hunt, hunting]
2: the activity of looking thoroughly in order to find something or someone [syn: search, hunt, hunting]
3: the work of finding and killing or capturing animals for food or pelts [syn: hunt, hunting]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: before 12th century 1. the act of one that hunts; specifically the pursuit of game 2. the process of hunting 3. a. a periodic variation in speed of a synchronous electrical machine b. a self-induced and undesirable oscillation of a variable above and below the desired value in an automatic control system c. a continuous attempt by an automatically controlled system to find a desired equilibrium condition

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. the practice of pursuing and killing wild animals, esp. for sport. Phrases and idioms: hunting-crop see CROP n. 3. hunting-ground 1 a place suitable for hunting. 2 a source of information or object of exploitation likely to be fruitful. hunting horn a straight horn used in hunting. hunting-pink see PINK(1). Etymology: OE huntung (as HUNT)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hunt Hunt, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hunted; p. pr. & vb. n. Hunting.] [AS. huntian to hunt; cf. hentan to follow, pursue, Goth. hin?an (in comp.) to seize. [root]36. Cf. Hent.] 1. To search for or follow after, as game or wild animals; to chase; to pursue for the purpose of catching or killing; to follow with dogs or guns for sport or exercise; as, to hunt a deer. Like a dog, he hunts in dreams. --Tennyson. 2. To search diligently after; to seek; to pursue; to follow; -- often with out or up; as, to hunt up the facts; to hunt out evidence. Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him. --Ps. cxl. 11. 3. To drive; to chase; -- with down, from, away, etc.; as, to hunt down a criminal; he was hunted from the parish. 4. To use or manage in the chase, as hounds. He hunts a pack of dogs. --Addison. 5. To use or traverse in pursuit of game; as, he hunts the woods, or the country.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hunting Hunt"ing, n. The pursuit of game or of wild animals. --A. Smith. Happy hunting grounds, the region to which, according to the belief of American Indians, the souls of warriors and hunters pass after death, to be happy in hunting and feasting. --Tylor. Hunting box. Same As Hunting lodge (below). Hunting cat (Zo["o]l.), the cheetah. Hunting cog (Mach.), a tooth in the larger of two geared wheels which makes its number of teeth prime to the number in the smaller wheel, thus preventing the frequent meeting of the same pairs of teeth. Hunting dog (Zo["o]l.), the hyena dog. Hunting ground, a region or district abounding in game; esp. (pl.), the regions roamed over by the North American Indians in search of game. Hunting horn, a bulge; a horn used in the chase. See Horn, and Bulge. Hunting leopard (Zo["o]l.), the cheetah. Hunting lodge, a temporary residence for the purpose of hunting. Hunting seat, a hunting lodge. --Gray. Hunting shirt, a coarse shirt for hunting, often of leather. Hunting spider (Zo["o]l.), a spider which hunts its prey, instead of catching it in a web; a wolf spider. Hunting watch. See Hunter, 6.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. Hunting is the chasing and killing of wild animals by people or other animals, for food or as a sport. Deer hunting was banned in Scotland in 1959. 2. Hunting is the activity of searching for a particular thing. Jobclub can help you with job hunting. N-UNCOUNT: n N • Hunting is also a combining form. Lee has divided his time between flat-hunting and travelling. COMB in N-UNCOUNT

Easton's Bible Dictionary

mentioned first in Gen. 10:9 in connection with Nimrod. Esau was "a cunning hunter" (Gen. 25:27). Hunting was practised by the Hebrews after their settlement in the "Land of Promise" (Lev. 17:15; Prov. 12:27). The lion and other ravenous beasts were found in Palestine (1 Sam. 17:34; 2 Sam. 23:20; 1 Kings 13:24; Ezek. 19:3-8), and it must have been necessary to hunt and destroy them. Various snares and gins were used in hunting (Ps. 91:3; Amos 3:5; 2 Sam. 23:20).

War is referred to under the idea of hunting (Jer. 16:16; Ezek. 32:30).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

hunt'-ing (tsayidh): The hunting of wild animals for sport, or for the defense of men and flocks, or for food, was common in Western Asia and Egypt, especially in early times. Some of the Egyptian and Assyrian kings were great hunters in the first sense, for example Amenhotep III (1411-1375 BC "a lion-hunting and bull-baiting Pharaoh," who boasted of having slain 76 bulls in the course of one expedition, and of having killed at one time or other 102 lions; and the Assyrian conqueror, Tiglath-pileser I (circa 1100 BC), who claimed 4 wild bulls, 14 elephants and 920 lions as the trophies of his skill and courage.

1. Nimrod and His Like:

The Biblical prototype of these heroes of war and the chase is Nimrod, "a mighty hunter before Yahweh" (Ge 10:9), that is perhaps "a hunter who had no equal," a figure not yet clearly identifiable with any historical or mythical character in the Assyro-Bab monuments, but possibly the Gilgamesh of the great epic, who may be the hero represented on seals and reliefs as victorious over the lion (Skinner, "Gen," ICC, 208). We are reminded also of Samson's exploit at Timnah (Jud 14:5 f), but this, like David's encounter with the lion and the bear (1Sa 17:34 f) and Benaiah's struggle with a lion in a pit on a snowy day (2Sa 23:20), was an occasional incident and scarcely comes under the category of hunting. There is no evidence that hunting for sport was ever practiced by the kings of Judah and Israel. Not until the time of Herod the Great, who had a hunting establishment and was a great hunter of boars, stags, and wild asses (Josephus, BJ, I, xxi, 13), mastering as many as 40 beasts in one day, do we find a ruler of Palestine indulging in this pastime.

2. Hunting in the Old Testament:

Hunting, however, for the two other purposes mentioned above was probably as frequent among the Israelites, even after they had ceased to be nomads, as among their neighbors. We know indeed of only two personal examples, both in the patriarchal period and both outside the direct line of Israelite descent: Esau (Ge 25:27 ) and Ishmael (Ge 21:20); but there are several references and many figurative allusions to the pursuit and its methods and instruments. Hunting (inclusive of following) is mentioned in the Pentateuch in the regulation about pouring out the blood and covering it with dust (Le 17:13); and there is a general reference in the proverb (Pr 12:27): "The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting." The hunting of the lion is assumed in Ezekiel's allegory of the lioness and her two whelps (Eze 19:1-9; compare Job 10:16); of the antelope or oryx (De 14:5; Isa 51:20); of the roe (Pr 6:5); of the partridge in the mountains (1Sa 26:20), and of birds in general in many passages. Hunting is probably implied in the statement about the provision of harts, gazelles and roebucks for Solomon's kitchen (1Ki 4:23), and to some extent in the reference to the den of lions in Babylon (Da 6:7 ).

3. Methods of Hunters:

The weapons most frequently employed by hunters seem to have been bows and arrows. Isaac (Ge 27:3) commands Esau to take his bow and quiver and procure him venison or game (compare also Isa 7:24; Job 41:28). This method is amply illustrated by the monuments. Ashur-nazir-pal lII (885-860 BC) and Darius (circa 500 BC), for example, are depicted shooting at lions from the chariot. Use was also made of the sword, the spear, the dart or javelin, the sling and the club (Job 41:26,28 f, where the application of these weapons to hunting is implied). The larger animals were sometimes caught in a pit. The classical reference is in Ezekiel's allegory, "He was taken in their pit" (shachath, Eze 19:4,8; compare also Isa 24:17 f; Jer 48:43 f; Ps 35:7, etc.). The details of this mode of capture as practiced at the present day, and probably in ancient times, are described by Tristram in his Natural History of the Bible (118 f). A more elaborate method is described by Maspero in Lectures historiques (285). To make the pit-capture more effective, nets were also employed: "They spread their net over him" (Eze 19:8; compare Ps 35:7). When caught, the lion was sometimes placed in a large wooden cage (Eze 19:9, cughar, the Assyrian shigaru; for the word and the thing compare SBOT, "Ezk," English, 132; Heb, 71). The lion (or any other large animal) was led about by a ring or hook (chach) inserted in the jaws or nose (2Ki 19:28 equals Isa 37:29; Eze 19:4,9; 29:4; 38:4). From wild animals the brutal Assyrians transferred the custom to their human captives, as the Israelites were well aware (2Ch 33:11 the Revised Version margin, Hebrew choach; for monumental illustrations compare SBOT, "Ezk," English, 132 f). Nets were also used for other animals such as the oryx or antelope (Isa 51:20). The Egyptian and Assyrian monuments show that dogs were employed in hunting in the ancient East, and it is not improbable that they were put to this service by the Hebrews also, but there is no clear Biblical evidence, as "greyhound" in Pr 30:31 is a questionable rendering. Josephus indeed (Ant., IV, viii, 9) mentions the hunting dog in a law ascribed to Moses, but the value of the allusion is uncertain.

4. Fowlers and Their Snares:

The hunting of birds or fowling is so often referred or alluded to that it must have been very widely practiced (compare Ps 91:3; 124:7; Pr 1:17; 6:5; Ec 9:12; Am 3:5, etc.). The only bird specifically mentioned is the partridge, said to be hunted on the mountains (1Sa 26:20). The method of hunting is supposed by Tristram (N H B, 225) to be that still prevalent--continual pursuit until the creature is struck down by sticks thrown along the ground--but the interpretation is uncertain. Birds were generally caught by snares or traps. Two passages are peculiarly instructive on this point: Job 18:8-10, where six words are used for such contrivances, represented respectively by "net," "toils," "gin," "snare," "noose," "trap "; and Am 3:5, which is important enough to be cited in full: "Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is set for him? shall a snare spring up from the ground, and have taken nothing at all?" The word for "snare" in this passage (pach) probably describes a net laid on the ground, perhaps a circular net like the Egyptian bird-trap represented in the Cambridge Bible, "Amos," 157. The word for "gin," usually ira in the Revised Version (British and American) "snare" (moqesh, literally, "fowling instrument") is supposed to refer either to the bait (ibid., 158) or to the catch connected with it which causes the net to collapse (Siegfried). For a full account of Egyptian modes of following which probably illustrate ancient Palestinian methods, compare Wilkinson, Popular Account, II, 178-83. The two words (moqesh and pach) mentioned above are used figuratively in many Old Testament passages, the former repeatedly of the deadly influence of Canaanitish idolatry on Israel, as in Ex 23:33, "For if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee" (compare Ex 34:12; De 7:16; Jos 23:13). The use of the hawk in fowling, which is at- tested for Northern Syria by a bas-relief found in 1908 at Sakje-Geuzi, is not mentioned in the Old Testament, but there may perhaps be an allusion in Apocrypha (Baruch 3:17, "they that had their pastime with the fowls of the air"). A reference to the use of decoys has been found in Jer 5:27, "a cage .... full of birds," but that is a doubtful interpretation, and in the Greek of Sirach 11:30, "As a decoy partridge in a cage, so is the heart of a proud man," but the Hebrew text of the latter is less explicit.

See FOWLER.

5. Allusions in the New Testament:

The New Testament has a few figurative allusions to hunting. The words for "catch" in Mr 12:13 and Lu 11:54 (agreuo and thereuo) mean literally, "hunt." The verb "ensnare" (pagideuo) occurs in the Gospels (Mt 22:15), and the noun "snare" (pagis) is met with in 5 passages (Lu 21:34; Ro 11:9; 1Ti 3:7; 6:9; 2Ti 2:26). Another word for "snare" (brochos), which means literally, "noose" (Revised Version margin), is used in 1Co 7:35. The words for "things that cause stumbling" and "stumble" (skandalon and skandalizo) may possibly conceal in some passages an allusion to a hunter's trap or snare. Skandalon is closely allied to skandalethron, "the stick in a trap on which the bait is placed," and is used in Septuagint for moqesh. The abundant use of imagery taken from hunting in the Bible is remarkable, in view of the comparative rarity of literal references.

LITERATURE.

In addition to the works cited in the course of the article, the article "Hunting" in DB2, HDB large and small, EB, Jewish Encyclopedia;and "Jagd" in German Bible Diets. of Guthe, Riehm2, and Wiener, and in RE3.

William Taylor Smith

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Chase. See hunt.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

Drawing in unwary persons to play or game. Cant.

Moby Thesaurus

analog process, angling, behavior pattern, chase, chevy, chivy, coursing, cynegetic, cynegetics, digital process, dogging, domiciliary visit, dragnet, exploration, falconry, feeling, fishing, follow, follow-up, following, forage, fox hunting, frisk, gunning, halieutic, hawking, house-search, hue and cry, hunt, in full cry, in hot pursuit, in pursuit, input oscillation, offset, oscillatory behavior, overcorrection of error, overshoot, perquisition, piscatorial, piscatory, posse, probe, process, prosecution, pursuance, pursuant, pursuing, pursuit, quest, questing, ransacking, rummage, search, search party, search warrant, search-and-destroy operation, searching, seeking, self-excitation, shadowing, shikar, shooting, sport, sporting, stalk, stalking, still hunt, tracking, tracking down, trailing, turning over, venery