quests

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of quest.

   Legends of the region describe long quests across mountains and deserts.

   Her early quests for the missing manuscript ended in disappointment.

   Note

   The plural belongs mainly to the countable uses of quest. These are journeys and missions pursued toward a goal, and the tasks a player completes in a game to earn a reward or move the story on. The older meanings, a request, a search party and a jury of inquest, are all obsolete, so quests today never means juries. The same spelling also serves the present-tense verb, and context tells them apart.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of quest.

   The young scholar quests tirelessly for any record of the lost expedition.

   A hound quests through the undergrowth, following a faint scent.

   Note

   As a verb, quest works in two ways. Used intransitively, it usually takes for, as in she quests for answers. Used transitively, it takes a direct object and means simply to search for something. A narrower use describes a creature locating and attaching to a host animal, so a sentence about something that quests for a host belongs to biology rather than to romance or adventure.

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