quest
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /kwɛst/
enpr: kwĕst
rhymes: -ɛst
Forms: form: quests
Etymology: From Middle English quest, queste; partly from Anglo-Norman queste, Old French queste (“acquisition, search, hunt”), and partly from their source, Latin quaesta (“tribute, tax, inquiry, search”), noun use of quaesita, the feminine past participle of quaerere (“to ask, seek”).
Senses: examples: text: Cease your quest of love.
ref: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
text: Everything I have done pales in comparison to what I am about to achieve. I am on a quest... a quest for the most revered icon in Klingon history. An icon that predates the Klingon Empire, an icon more sacred than the Torch of G'boj -- More revered than Sabak's armor, and more coveted than the Emperor's crown!
ref: 1995, “The Sword of Kahless”, in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 4, episode 8, spoken by Kor, →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 2013 January 23, Katie L. Burke, “Ecological Dependency”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, archived from the original on 09 Feb 2017, page 64:
glosses: A journey or effort in pursuit of a goal (often lengthy, ambitious, or fervent); a mission.
topics: video-games
glosses: A journey or effort in pursuit of a goal (often lengthy, ambitious, or fervent); a mission.
A task that a player may complete in order to gain a reward or advance the story.
examples: text: to rove in quest of game, of a lost child, of property, etc.
glosses: The act of seeking, or looking after anything; attempt to find or obtain; search; pursuit.
examples: text: Gad not abroad at every quest and call / Of an untrained hope or passion.
ref: [1633], George Herbert, edited by [Nicholas Ferrar], The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC:
glosses: A request; a desire; a solicitation.
examples: text: The senate hath sent about three several quests to search you out.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
glosses: A group of people conducting a search or inquiry.
examples: text: To 'cide this title is impanneled
 A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart,
 And by their verdict is determined
 The clear eye's moiety and the dear heart's part […]
ref: 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 46”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
glosses: An inquest; a jury of inquest.
Derived terms: FedEx quest
fetch quest
question
second quest
sidequest
vision quest