# hunting

Pronunciation: say "HUN-ting" /ˈhʌntɪŋ/

## Noun

1. The act of finding and killing a wild animal, for sport or to use its parts for food, clothing, and other goods.
   - Simple: The activity of finding and killing wild animals for sport or for food and clothing.
   - _For these communities, hunting supplied not only meat but also hides for clothing._
   - _Trophy hunting remains controversial among conservationists and the wider public._
2. The act of searching for something, especially a job or an apartment.
   - Simple: Looking hard for something you want, such as a job or a place to live.
   - _After months of job hunting, she finally accepted an offer downtown._
   - _Apartment hunting in a busy market means moving fast on new listings._
4. Fluctuation or oscillation in a system that fails to settle at a stable value.
   - Simple: A back-and-forth movement in a machine or system that will not settle down.
   - _Persistent hunting in the speed governor prevented the turbine from holding a steady rpm._
   - _The control loop showed hunting whenever the load changed suddenly._
5. The process of selecting which line in a group of telephone lines will receive an incoming call.
   - Simple: A way of choosing which phone line in a group will take an incoming call.
   - _The phone system uses hunting to find an open line when the main number is busy._
   - _Office switchboards rely on hunting to distribute calls across several lines._

## Verb

3. Present participle and gerund of hunt. — present participle and gerund of hunt
   - Simple: Present participle of hunt. Use this form for the action as it is happening.
   - _The wolves were hunting in a coordinated pack across the valley._
   - _Spending the morning hunting mushrooms, they filled two baskets._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4–5** — From Middle English "hunting," from Old English "huntung," equivalent to "hunt" plus the suffix "-ing."
**Meaning 3** — From Middle English "huntynge," an alteration of earlier "huntinde," "huntende," and "huntand," the present participle of "hunten" ("to hunt"), equivalent to "hunt" plus "-ing."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/hunting (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).