Chase, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Chased; p. pr. & vb. n. Chasing.]
Etymology: [OF. chacier, F. chasser, fr. (assumed) LL. captiare, fr. L. captare to strive to seize. See Catch.]
1. To pursue for the purpose of killing or taking, as an enemy, or game; to hunt. We are those which chased you from the field. Shak. Philologists, who chase A panting syllable through time and place. Cowper.
2. To follow as if to catch; to pursue; to compel to move on; to drive by following; to cause to fly; -- often with away or off; as, to chase the hens away. Chased by their brother's endless malice from prince to prince and from place to place. Knolles.
3. To pursue eagerly, as hunters pursue game. Chasing each other merrily. Tennyson.
4 other Webster entries under this spelling
Chase, v. i.
To give chase; to hunt; as, to chase around after a doctor. [Colloq.]
Chase, n.
1. Vehement pursuit for the purpose of killing or capturing, as of an enemy, or game; an earnest seeking after any object greatly desired; the act or habit of hunting; a hunt. "This mad chase of fame." Dryden. You see this chase is hotly followed. Shak.
2. That which is pursued or hunted. Nay, Warwick, seek thee out some other chase, For I myself must hunt this deer to death. Shak.
3. An open hunting ground to which game resorts, and which is private properly, thus differing from a forest, which is not private property, and from a park, which is inclosed. Sometimes written chace. [Eng.]
4. (Court Tennis)
A division of the floor of a gallery, marked by a figure or otherwise; the spot where a ball falls, and between which and the dedans the adversary must drive his ball in order to gain a point. Chase gun (Naut.), a cannon placed at the bow or stern of an armed vessel, and used when pursuing an enemy, or in defending the vessel when pursued. -- Chase port (Naut.), a porthole from which a chase gun is fired. -- Stern chase (Naut.), a chase in which the pursuing vessel follows directly in the wake of the vessel pursued.
Chase, n.
(Print.)
1. A rectangular iron frame in which pages or columns of type are imposed.
2. (Mil.)
The part of a cannon from the reënforce or the trunnions to the swell of the muzzle. See Cannon.
3. A groove, or channel, as in the face of a wall; a trench, as for the reception of drain tile.
4. (Shipbuilding)
A kind of joint by which an overlap joint is changed to a flush joint, by means of a gradually deepening rabbet, as at the ends of clinker-built boats.
Chase, v. t.
1. To ornament (a surface of metal) by embossing, cutting away parts, and the like.
2. To cut, so as to make a screw thread.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for chase; he lists it under follow, hunt.
Where he writes about it:
A chase or pursuit is after that which is fleeing or departing; a search is for that which is hidden; a hunt may be for that which is either hidden or fleeing; a search is a minute and careful seeking, and is especially applied to a locality; we make a search of or through a house, for an object, in which connection it would be colloquial to say a hunt. — from hunt
Hunt never quite loses its association with field-sports, where it includes both search and chase; the search till the game is hunted out, and the chase till it is hunted down. — from hunt
Figuratively, we speak of literary pursuits, or of the pursuit of knowledge; a search for reasons; the chase of fame or honor; hunt, in figurative use, inclines to the unfavorable sense of inquisition, but with more of dash and aggressiveness; as, a hunt for heresy. — from hunt