quest

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

quest, n. [OF. queste, F. quête, fr. L. quaerere, quaesitum, to seek for, to ask. Cf. Query, Question.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "Upon an hard adventure yet in quest."  [1913 Webster]

  "Cease your quest of love."  [1913 Webster]

  "There ended was his quest, there ceased his care."  [1913 Webster]
•  Request; desire; solicitation.  [1913 Webster]

  "Gad not abroad at every quest and call
  Of an untrained hope or passion."  [1913 Webster]
•  Those who make search or inquiry, taken collectively.  [1913 Webster]

  "The senate hath sent about three several quests to search you out."  [1913 Webster]
•  Inquest; jury of inquest.  [1913 Webster]

  "What lawful quest have given their verdict ?"  [1913 Webster]

quest, v. t. [Cf. OF. quester, F. quêter. See Quest, n.].

 To search for; to examine.  Sir T. Herbert.  [1913 Webster]

quest, v. i. 

 To go on a quest; to make a search; to go in pursuit; to beg.  [1913 Webster]
"If his questing had been unsuccessful, he appeased the rage of hunger with some scraps of broken meat."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

quest, n. & v.
--n.
1 a search or the act of seeking.
2 the thing sought, esp. the object of a medieval knight's pursuit.
--v.
1 intr. (often foll. by about) a (often foll. by for) go about in search of something. b (of a dog etc.) search about for game.
2 tr. poet. search for, seek out.

Idiom

in quest of seeking.

Derivative

quester n. questingly adv.

Etymology

ME f. OF queste, quester ult. f. L quaerere quaest- seek

THESAURUS

quest

adventure, angle for, ask for, bay, beat about for, cast about, chase, chivy, crusade, delve for, delving, dig for, dog, dogging, domiciliary visit, dragnet, emprise, expedition, exploration, ferret out, fish for, follow, follow up, follow-up, following, forage, frisk, give chase, go after, go gunning for, gun for, hollo after, hound, house-search, hue and cry, hunt, hunt for, hunt up, hunting, inquest, inquiry, inquisition, investigation, look, look for, look up, make after, mission, perquisition, pilgrimage, posse, probe, probing, prosecute, prosecution, prowl after, pursual, pursuance, pursue, pursuing, pursuit, quest after, raise the hunt, ransacking, research, rummage, run after, search, search for, search out, search party, search warrant, search-and-destroy operation, searching, see to, seek, seek for, seek out, seeking, shadowing, stalk, stalking, still hunt, still-hunt, take out after, track down, tracking, tracking down, trailing, try to find, turning over, ululate, wail

ROGET THESAURUS

quest

Pursuit

N pursuit, pursuing, prosecution, pursuance, enterprise, business, adventure, quest, scramble, hue and cry, game, hobby, still-hunt, chase, hunt, battue, race, steeple chase, hunting, coursing, venation, venery, fox chase, sport, sporting, shooting, angling, fishing, hawking, shikar (Geog loc:India), pursuer, hunter, huntsman, shikari (Geog loc:India), sportsman, Nimrod, hound, pursuing, in quest of, in pursuit, in full cry, in hot pursuit, on the scent, in pursuance of, after, Int, tallyho!, yoicks!, soho!.

Inquiry

N inquiry, request, search, research, quest, pursuit, examination, review, scrutiny, investigation, indagation, perquisition, perscrutation, pervestigation, inquest, inquisition, exploration, exploitation, ventilation, sifting, calculation, analysis, dissection, resolution, induction, Baconian method, strict inquiry, close inquiry, searching inquiry, exhaustive inquiry, narrow search, strict search, study, scire facias, ad referendum, trial, questioning, interrogation, interrogatory, interpellation, challenge, examination, cross-examination, catechism, feeler, Socratic method, zetetic philosophy, leading question, discussion, reconnoitering, reconnaissance, prying, espionage, espionnage, domiciliary visit, peep behind the curtain, lantern of Diogenes, question, query, problem, desideratum, point to be solved, porism, subject of inquiry, field of inquiry, subject of controversy, point in dispute, matter in dispute, moot point, issue, question at issue, bone of contention, plain question, fair question, open question, enigma, knotty point, quodlibet, threshold of an inquiry, inquirer, investigator, inquisitor, inspector, querist, examiner, catechist, scrutator scrutineer scrutinizer, analyst, quidnunc, inquiry, inquisitive, requisitive, requisitory, catechetical, inquisitorial, analytic, in search of, in quest of, on the lookout for, interrogative, zetetic, all searching, undetermined, untried, undecided, in question, in dispute, in issue, in course of inquiry, under discussion, under consideration, under investigation, sub judice, moot, proposed, doubtful, quaere?, what?, why?, wherefore?, whence?, whither?, where?, how comes it?, how happens it?, how is it?, what is the reason?, what's the matter?, nicht wahr?, what's in the wind?, what on earth?, when?, who?.