trawl Definition

trawl
noun

1. A large bag-shaped net with a wide mouth, used for catching fish at sea.

Form: trawl-net (in full)
2. A wide-ranging or extensive search.

Example: made a trawl through the library catalogue

verb, tr & intr trawled, trawling

1. To fish (the sea, an area of sea, etc) using a trawl-net.
2. To search through (a large number of things, people, etc) thoroughly, especially before finding the one required.

Example: had to trawl through hundreds of applications

Derivative: trawling
noun

Etymology: 17c as noun; 16c as verb: probably from Dutch traghelen to drag and traghel drag-net, perhaps from Latin tragula drag-net, ultimately from trahere to draw.