quest

Pluralquests

Formsquests, questing, quested

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A long or ambitious journey or effort undertaken in pursuit of a goal or mission.

   The knight embarked on a quest to recover the stolen relic.

   Her lifelong quest to cure the disease earned international recognition.

   Similarmission, crusade, journey, expedition, odyssey

   Note

   Pursuit with a goal in sight, and the word's history is all seeking: through Old French queste, "search, hunt," it goes back to Latin quaerere, "to ask, seek," the root behind the obsolete "request" sense as well. In current English one goes on a quest, and the goal follows for. The Star Trek line "I am on a quest... a quest for the most revered icon" shows both habits at once.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A task a player can complete in a video game to gain a reward or advance the story.

   The side quest rewarded players with rare crafting materials.

   Players who finish every quest unlock a secret ending.

   Similarmission, task

   Note

   Video games narrowed the old knightly undertaking into a unit of play. What defines a game quest is its payoff, either a reward or the next stretch of the story, and the player is free to take it up or leave it. The usual verb is complete, though finish is also common. The mission of the general sense survives here, but it is shrunk to a task with a clear end.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   The act of seeking something; an attempt to find or obtain something through searching or pursuit.

   The scientist's quest for a vaccine consumed a decade of research.

   His quest for recognition shaped every decision he made.

   Similarsearch, pursuit, hunt, bid

   Note

   Here the weight falls on the searching itself rather than on a journey, and the sense lives mostly in the fixed phrase in quest of: to rove in quest of game, of a lost child, of property. The phrase takes no article. A quest for names an undertaking, while in quest of describes someone's state while they are looking.

4. 4
   verbintransitive

   To seek or pursue a goal, often by undertaking a mission or extended endeavor.

   Pilgrims quest toward distant shrines, enduring hardship along the way.

   He quested tirelessly, never settling for an easy life.

   Similarsearch, journey, strive

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To search for or seek out something specific.

   The detective quested clues that others had overlooked.

   Generations of sailors quest the fabled passage through the ice.

   Similarseek, pursue, hunt

   Note

   The searching verb, built for a target, in contrast with the goal-pursuing verb, which stands alone. Older prose often spells the target out in a phrase: Thomas Herbert's Description of the Persian Monarchy (1634) has "we quested in search of our caravan, and after some pains recovered it." In modern use the verb sounds literary. Seek or search for is the plain choice.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A short test given to students in a classroom setting.

   Students took a short quest at the start of the lecture.

   Each quest counts for a small portion of the final grade.

   Similarquiz, test

   Note

   A separate word that happens to share the spelling, formed as a blend of quiz and test so that teachers could avoid saying test. It names the middle size. Kathleen Gibson-Dee's "Learning Through Questing, Not Testing" (2015) puts it at about ten questions and 30 to 40 minutes. Outside a classroom, listeners will hear the journey sense, so make the setting clear.

7. 7
   verbintransitive

   Of a tick or other parasite, to locate and attach to a host animal.

   Larval ticks quest from the tips of grasses, latching onto passing mammals.

   The flea quested toward the warmth of a nearby host.

   Note

   Entomologists use this sense of ticks, and the participle carries much of the weight: a questing tick is one positioned on vegetation with its forelegs extended, waiting to find and attach to a host. The verb normally takes no object. A tick quests, and then it attaches to the host.

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