Word.ws English Dictionary

Wild Hunt

Wild Hunt noun: a spectral hunting party of riders and hounds, often led by a supernatural huntsman, that sweeps noisily through the sky or countryside at night or during storms, especially in winter; traditionally lacking a visible quarry and regarded as an omen of death or disaster.

Noun

Wild Hunt (plural Wild Hunts)

  1. (European) A spectral hunting party of riders and hounds, often led by a supernatural huntsman, that sweeps noisily through the sky or countryside at night or during storms, especially in winter; traditionally lacking a visible quarry and regarded as an omen of death or disaster.
    • Before the Venusberg — according to the preface to the Heldenbuch — sits the trusty Eckhard, and warns people; as he also rides and warns before the Wild Hunt.1851, Benjamin Thorpe, Northern Mythology, volume I, London: Edward Lumley, page 287
    • Mr. Kelly (Indo-European Tradition) very ably and poetically resolves all the various superstitions of this Wild Hunt into figurative descriptions of natural phenomena, but Mr. Yarrell, the distinguished naturalist, reduces the cries of the Gabriel Hounds into the whistling of the Bean Goose, Anser...1883, James Bowker, Goblin Tales of Lancashire, London: W. Swan Sonnenschein, page 266

Examples of Wild Hunt in a sentence

  • Kelly (Indo-European Tradition) very ably and poetically resolves all the various superstitions of this Wild Hunt into figurative descriptions of natural phenomena, but Mr.1883, James Bowker, Goblin Tales of Lancashire, London: W. Swan Sonnenschein, page 266:
  • In Germanic myth Woden, in common with his Nordic counterpart, was the leader of the spooky Wild Hunt which rides through the midwinter sky collecting the souls of the dead.1990, Michael Howard, Understanding Runes, →ISBN, page 35:
  • Throughout the Continent it was originally she who led the dread and awesome Wild Hunt through the thick forest and the mid-night snows, leading ghosts, wolves, witches and elves.1993, Ed Fitch, The rites of Odin, Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 320:
  • The night grew lighter as we welcomed the Aelfkin and Frey to join us, the Mothers we honoured and speeches made on Woden and the Wild Hunt.1998, “The Raven's Call”, in Heartland, volume 1, number 3:

Forms of Wild Hunt

pluralWild Hunts

Origin of Wild Hunt

Calque of German Wilde Jagd.

Questions about Wild Hunt

What does Wild Hunt mean?
Wild Hunt means a spectral hunting party of riders and hounds, often led by a supernatural huntsman, that sweeps noisily through the sky or countryside at night or during storms, especially in winter; traditionally lacking a visible quarry and regarded as an omen of death or disaster.
How do you use Wild Hunt in a sentence?
Kelly (Indo-European Tradition) very ably and poetically resolves all the various superstitions of this Wild Hunt into figurative descriptions of natural phenomena, but Mr.
What part of speech is Wild Hunt?
Wild Hunt is a noun.
What is the plural of Wild Hunt?
The plural of Wild Hunt is Wild Hunts.

Words near Wild Hunt in the dictionary

  1. wild haggis
  2. wild haggises
  3. wild hair
  4. wild horse
  5. wild horses
  6. Wild Hunt
  7. Wild Hunts
  8. Wild Huntsman
  9. Wild Huntsmen
  10. wild hyacinth
  11. wild hyacinths

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Wild Hunt (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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