questant

English

Noun

questant (plural questants)

1. (archaic) Somebody who undertakes a quest.

• 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.