1851 Huron Reflector (Norwalk, Ohio) 21 Oct. It seemed the High 'Change of revelry and pleasure-seeking.

1869 H. James Let. 28 June (1974) I. 124 I will accept everything—even the appearance of mere pleasure-seeking.

1886 J. G. Matteson Hist. Sk. 63/1 I found the people in Norway far more religiously inclined than those in Denmark; they..are not so much given to pleasure-seeking.

1928 C. S. Whitehead & C. A. Hoff Ethical Sex Relations (new ed.) i. iii. 88 A protracted round of visiting, gazing and so-called pleasure-seeking.

1980 J. A. Hostetler Amish Society (ed. 3) xiv. 309 Play or pleasure house is the Amish metaphor for the tourist world. Tourism is ‘empty pleasure-seeking’, or ‘leisure lust’ as one Amish minister put it.

1795 S. Martin Poet. Epist. 18 The dissipated pleasure-seeking band Destroy themselves, and desolate a land.

1798 H. Summersett Aberford 96 To most she seems A weary matron, whose still ear best suits The ‘whooping owl,’ and nightly croaking toad; Not pleasure seeking mortals.

1830 Times 21 July 3/4 The streets were thronged with pleasure-seeking idlers.

1880 ‘M. Twain’ Tramp Abroad iv. 49 The easy-going pleasure-seeking student.

1936 Discovery Oct. 301/1 Only a slight ripple on the normal pleasure-seeking surface of Blackpool was caused by the arrival and departure of the British Association.

1999 New Scientist 27 Nov. 30/2 Some of the most sensitised brain regions are the thinking, remembering and pleasure-seeking parts.