quest

noun

1. A journey or effort in pursuit of a goal (often lengthy, ambitious, or fervent); a mission.

   “the hero's quest”

   “Cease your quest of love.”

   “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!”

   “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.”

2. A journey or effort in pursuit of a goal (often lengthy, ambitious, or fervent); a mission.

   “At the same time, players are not forced to complete quests in a certain order; they're allowed enough free will within the game to determine their goals and needs.”

3. The act of seeking, or looking after anything; attempt to find or obtain; search; pursuit.

   “to rove in quest of game, of a lost child, of property, etc.”

4. (obsolete)A request; a desire; a solicitation.

   “Gad not abroad at every quest and call / Of an untrained hope or passion.”

5. (obsolete)A group of people conducting a search or inquiry.

   “The senate hath sent about three several quests to search you out.”

6. (obsolete)An inquest; a jury of inquest.

   “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 […]”

7. A short test.

   “I had a calculus quest (not a quiz or a test, but somewhere in between...) it was on limits, and l'hopital's rule...”

   “However took a quest, quiz/test combination that this math progrm^([sic]) uses, and got ten out of ten on it!”

   “Quests, bigger than quizzes and smaller than tests, consist of around 10 questions worth 2 points each, designed to take about 30–40 minutes.”

8. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of)Acronym of quantized electronic structure.

verb

1. (intransitive)To seek or pursue a goal; to undertake a mission or job.
2. (transitive)To search for something; to seek.

   “Next day we quested in search of our caravan, and after some pains recovered it.”

3. To locate and attach to a host animal.

name

1. A surname from German.