hunter

From Middle English hunter, huntere, honter, equivalent to hunt +‎ -er. Compare Old English hunta (“hunter”).

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhʌntɚ/, [ˈhʌɾ̃ɚ]

• Audio (US):

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• Hyphenation: hun‧ter
• Rhymes: -ʌntə(ɹ)
• Homophone: junta (foot-strut split)

hunter (plural hunters)

1. One who hunts game for sport or for food; a huntsman or huntswoman.
2. A dog used in hunting.
   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:

     thy intercepter, full of despite, bloody as the hunter, attends thee at the orchard end

3. A horse used in hunting, especially a thoroughbred, bred and trained for hunting.
   • c. 1792–3, Jane Austen, ‘Catharine, or The Bower’, Juvenilia:

     ‘His favourite Hunter who was turned out in the park on his going abroad, somehow or other fell ill […] .’

   • 1857–1859, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, The Virginians. A Tale of the Last Century, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1858–1859, →OCLC:

     a sound, swift, well-bred hunter and roadster

   • 1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “About the Rightful Mrs. Nutter of the Mills, and How Mr. Mervyn Received the News”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume III, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 258:

     No one, however, thought of the haughty and secluded young gentleman who […] when he rode on his black hunter into Dublin, avoided the village, and took the high-road by Inchicore.

   • 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, published 2010, page 480:

     Henry, laughing, spurs away his hunter under the dripping trees.

4. One who hunts or seeks after anything.

   The hunter becomes the hunted.

   a fortune hunter

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Elaine”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 155:

     You know right well, how meek soe'er he seem, / No keener hunter after glory breathes.

5. (psychology) A person who bottles up their aggression and eventually releases it explosively.

   Coordinate term: howler

   • 2008, J. Reid Meloy, Lorraine Sheridan, Jens Hoffmann, Stalking, Threatening, and Attacking Public Figures, page 121:

     Although their behavior does not have the same impact as hunters, howlers nevertheless distract the public figure and compel security and law enforcement […]

   • 2015, Steve Albrecht, Library Security: Better Communication, Safer Facilities:

     Hunters stalk their targets, make detailed plans, acquire and practice with weapons, and try to hurt or kill people. Howlers make bomb threats to schools, malls, churches, businesses, and government offices.

6. A kind of spider, the huntsman or hunting spider.
7. A pocket watch with a spring-hinged circular metal cover that closes over the dial and crystal, protecting them from dust and scratches.

• hunter on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

From hunten +‎ -er.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhuntər/

hunter (plural hunters)

1. hunter

• English: hunter