Meanings
plural snipe hunts
- idiomaticA prank in which a gullible victim is sent off on a fruitless search for a nonexistent item.
And you asked Charles Briggs for the name of the man who bought the secret, and he gives you a legend. A man who might not even exist. You know what, this is a snipe hunt.
2012 December 13, “The Leviathan”, in Elementary, season 1, episode 10, spoken by Watson (Lucy Liu)Synonyms: snark hunt, fool's errand, wild goose chase
present singular third person snipe hunts · participle present snipe hunting · participle past snipe hunted · past snipe hunted
- intransitiveTo participate, as the gullible victim, in a snipe hunt.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA prank in which a gullible victim is sent off on a fruitless search for a nonexistent item.
Origin
* snipe + hunt * Although snipe are an actual family of birds, a snipe hunt was originally a quest for an imaginary creature whose description varies.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Estonian hanekstõmbamine
- hanekstõmbamineprank
Finnish hukkareissu
- hukkareissuprank
French chasse au dahu
- chasse au dahuprank
Hebrew מרדף סרק, מרדף שווא
- מרדף סרקprank
- מרדף שוואprank
- שליחות סרקprank
- שליחות שוואprank
- רדיפה אחרי הרוחprank
Polish polowanie na bekasy
- polowanie na bekasyprank
Portuguese caça aos gambozinos
- caça aos gambozinosprank
Cite this entry
snipe hunt. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snipe%20hunt
“snipe hunt.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snipe%20hunt. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “snipe hunt,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snipe%20hunt.
Source: snipe hunt on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.