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Webster 1913 Edition


Quest

Quest

,
Noun.
[OF.
queste
, F.
quête
, fr. L.
quaerere
,
quaesitum
, to seek for, to ask. Cf.
Query
,
Question
.]
1.
The act of seeking, or looking after anything; attempt to find or obtain; search; pursuit;
as, to rove in
quest
of game, of a lost child, of property, etc.
Upon an hard adventure yet in
quest
.
Spenser.
Cease your
quest
of love.
Shakespeare
There ended was his
quest
, there ceased his care.
Milton.
2.
Request; desire; solicitation.
Gad not abroad at every
quest
and call
Of an untrained hope or passion.
Herbert.
3.
Those who make search or inquiry, taken collectively.
The senate hath sent about three several
quests
to search you out.
Shakespeare
4.
Inquest; jury of inquest.
What lawful
quest
have given their verdict ?
Shakespeare

Quest

,
Verb.
T.
[Cf. OF.
quester
, F.
quêter
. See
Quest
,
Noun.
]
To search for; to examine.
[R.]
Sir T. Herbert.

Quest

,
Verb.
I.
To go on a quest; to make a search; to go in pursuit; to beg.
[R.]
If his
questing
had been unsuccessful, he appeased the rage of hunger with some scraps of broken meat.
Macaulay.

Webster 1828 Edition


Quest

QUEST

,
Noun.
[L. quaero, quaestus. As the letter r is rarely changed into s, perhaps the L. quaesivi, quaestus, may be from the root of quaeso.]
1.
The act of seeking; search; as, to rove in quest of game; to go in quest of a lost child; in quest of property, &c.
2.
Inquest; a jury. [Not used.]
3.
Searchers, collectively. [Not used.]
4.
Inquiry; examination. [Not used.]
5.
Request; desire; solicitation.
Gad not abroad at every quest and call of an untrain'd hope or passion.

QUEST

,
Verb.
I.
To go in search. [Not used.]

QUEST

,
Verb.
T.
To search or seek for.

Definition 2024


quest

quest

See also: QUEST and quest'

English

Noun

quest (plural quests)

  1. A journey or effort in pursuit of a goal (often lengthy, ambitious, or fervent); a mission.
    • William Shakespeare
      Cease your quest of love.
    • 2013 January 1, Katie L. Burke, “Ecological Dependency”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, page 64:
      In his first book since the 2008 essay collection Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, David Quammen looks at the natural world from yet another angle: the search for the next human pandemic, what epidemiologists call “the next big one.” His quest leads him around the world to study a variety of suspect zoonoses—animal-hosted pathogens that infect humans.
  2. The act of seeking, or looking after anything; attempt to find or obtain; search; pursuit.
    to rove in quest of game, of a lost child, of property, etc.
  3. (obsolete) Request; desire; solicitation.
    • Herbert
      Gad not abroad at every quest and call / Of an untrained hope or passion.
  4. (obsolete) A group of people making search or inquiry.
  5. (obsolete) Inquest; jury of inquest.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

quest (third-person singular simple present quests, present participle questing, simple past and past participle quested)

  1. To seek or pursue a goal; to undertake a mission or job.
  2. To search for; to examine.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir T. Herbert to this entry?)
  3. (entomology, of a tick) To locate and attach to a host animal.

Romagnol

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *eccu istu, from Latin eccum istum. Compare Italian questo.

Pronoun

quest (feminine singular questa)

  1. this one, this
    Quest l'è un mond zneno, e nost mond.
    This is a small world, our world.
    Questa l'è una cittadina bela.
    This is a beautiful city.

Romansch

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *eccu istu, from Latin eccum istum. Compare Italian questo.

Pronoun

quest

  1. this