huntsman

From hunt +‎ -s- +‎ -man.

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huntsman (plural huntsmen or huntsmans) (see usage notes)

1. A hunter.
2. (UK) A fox hunter.
3. One who manages the hounds during a hunt.
4. Any of the many species of large spiders of the family Sparassidae.
   • 1985, Living Australia, Dangerous Australians: The Complete Guide to Australia's Most Deadly Creatures‎^[1], page 111:

     Although they do not make webs, female huntsmans at least have not lost the ability to produce silk.

   • 1995, Anne Kerle, Ayers Rock, the Olgas & Kings Canyon, Northern Territory‎^[2], page 129:

     The majority of desert-dwelling spiders are large burrowing spiders; the Barking Spiders Selenoeosmia stirlingi, mouse spiders, wolf spiders (Fig. 5.47), huntsmen and trapdoor spiders (Fig. 5.48).

   • 2002, John Kinsella, “The Wasps”, in Divinations: Four Plays:

     to say trapdoors and huntsmans

   • 2012, Carrie Tiffany, Mateship with Birds, Pan Macmillan Australia, unnumbered page:

     Two huntsmen spiders prowl Harry′s bedroom ceiling.

   • 2025 January 27, Alexandra Carlton, “The kindness of strangers: I pulled over in hysterics – then a passing driver saved me from the spider”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[3], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 January 2025:

     After the huntsman raced across my windscreen, I had an arachnophobic meltdown on the side of the road.

The plural form huntsmans applies only in the sense of spider, and huntsmen is probably more common.

• Hunting on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Huntsman spider on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• manhunts