questant

English

Noun

questant (plural questants)

1. (archaic, hapax) Somebody who undertakes a quest; or less likely, a duel or combat. The nature of the sole occurrence of this term in the corpus renders the meaning somewhat uncertain as it depends on whether “shrinkes” is transitive or intransitive.

1. • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     
     Not to wooe honour, but to wed it, when
     The brauest questant shrinkes: finde what you seeke,
     [T]hat fame may cry you loud: I say farewell.

References

• “questant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.