trawl
verb/trɔːl/
/trɔːl/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they trawl | /trɔːl/ /trɔːl/ |
| he / she / it trawls | /trɔːlz/ /trɔːlz/ |
| past simple trawled | /trɔːld/ /trɔːld/ |
| past participle trawled | /trɔːld/ /trɔːld/ |
| -ing form trawling | /ˈtrɔːlɪŋ/ /ˈtrɔːlɪŋ/ |
- [transitive, intransitive] to search through a large amount of information or a large number of people, places, etc. looking for a particular thing or person
- trawl something (for something/somebody) She trawled the shops for bargains.
- Major companies trawl the universities for potential graduate trainees.
- trawl (through something) (for something/somebody) The police are trawling through their files for similar cases.
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- [intransitive] trawl (for something) to fish for something by pulling a large net with a wide opening through the water
Word Originmid 16th cent. (as a verb): probably from Middle Dutch traghelen ‘to drag’ (related to traghel ‘dragnet’), perhaps from Latin tragula ‘dragnet’.
Check pronunciation:
trawl