a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 42 So thys beste wente to the welle and dranke, and the noyse was in the bestes bealy lyke unto the questyng of thirty coupyl houndes.

1541 T. Elyot Image of Gouernance Pref. sig. aiv^v After two or thre questinges, he lept to the great olyphant.

1603 J. Florio tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. ii. xi. 248 A long questing and beating for some game.

1619 Two Wise Men & All Rest Fooles iii. i. 33 The questing of Spaniels..and thundring of horse heeles is the best consort, and pleaseth me aboue all delights.

a1680 S. Butler Genuine Remains (1759) II. 88 If they prosper they..give the Jackal some small Snip for his Pains in questing.

1700 J. Collier Second Def. Short View Eng. Stage 118 All this Questing has sprung but very little Game.

1848 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 3) 63 Must thou still Revel in bootless questings?

1886 E. Pfeiffer Sonnets 18 The questing of thine eyes.

1923 M. Sadleir Desolate Splendour iv. 72 From externals only need the weary questing of a stranger mind seek teaching or enlightenment.

1962 R. M. Gordon & M. M. J. Lavoipierre Entomol. for Students of Med. xliii. 256 When they [sc. larval ticks] first receive such stimuli they raise their forelegs..and wave them in the air, a behaviour known as ‘questing’.

1996 M. J. DeMarr Colleen McCullough: Crit. Compan. ii. 23 The love story was not a necessary part of the plot and was always secondary to the questing of the knight.

a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 590 I am the knyght that folowyth the glatysaunte beste, that is in Englysh to sey the questynge beste, for the beste..quested in the bealy with suche a noyse as hit had bene a thirty couple of howndis.

c1501 G. Douglas Palice of Honour iii. in Shorter Poems (1967) 107 The werie Hunter besie air and lait With questing Houndis seirching to and fra To hunt the Hart, the Bair, the Da, the Ra.

1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid xiii. iii. 25 Than the remanent of that questing sort,..Wythdrawis.

1607 J. Marston What you Will 242 And straight her questing thoughts springs up a knight.

1627 M. Drayton Miseries Queene Margarite in Battaile Agincourt 94 When they heare the questing Spaniels gone.

1714 Earthquake Peru i. 80 Even the Questing-brothers presume to interrupt People at their Prayers.

1749 M. Browne Sunday Thoughts: Pt. I 21 The saint, how sometimes need his wand'ring steps The questing shepherd's kind restoring care.

1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake iii. 114 Thread the brake like questing hound.

1869 P. Fitzgerald Fatal Zero II. iv. 35 That..questing, roving eye..that looks out of the corners sharply.

1895 S. R. Crockett Men of Moss-hags x All at once a questing dragoon held up his hand.

1925 Woman's World (Chicago) Apr. 9/2 His eyes, round and blue, had lost that inner questing look they wore so much.

1973 J. Chiasi Necessity of Being 35 The beatings of the questing mind, seeking to find a possible answer to the most heart-rending riddle of mankind.

2003 J. Fforde Well of Lost Plots v. 57 Above all don't look at Medusa. If Big Martin or the Questing Beast turn up, run like hell.