Dragnets

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of fishing net designed to capture fish by dragging it along the bottom or through the water
2. A surveillance tool used metaphorically to catch and collect information or evidence in a wide area
3. A method of mass capture, often employed in law enforcement, to apprehend multiple subjects simultaneously

Etymology: "Dragnets" is the plural of "dragnet," a net drawn along the bottom of a body of water or across a field to haul in whatever it catches. The noun is formed from "drag" and "net," and it appears in Old English as "dræġnet," so the compound is far older than its modern police-work sense. English speakers have used the plural for centuries in the literal fishing sense, with the net pulled through the water and gathering everything in its path. The word's connection to the Old English form matters here. "Drag" and "net" were both already in use, and joining them produced a single term for a net that is hauled rather than cast or set. Scandinavian languages preserve the same compound, as in Swedish "dragnät" and Norwegian "dragnett," which were borrowed from Icelandic "dragnet." The sense of mass capture grew naturally from this image. A net dragged across a area sweeps up everything it meets, not just a chosen target, and the plural "dragnets" carries that indiscriminate quality into its modern use for police operations that sweep up many suspects at once.

Synonyms: nets, fishing nets