Trawl

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /tɹɔːl/

Definitions

1. A fishing technique that uses a net to capture creatures from the sea while also describing a thorough search through data or items for specific details
2. A way of catching fish by dragging a wide net through the water ; a deliberate and extensive process of searching through information or objects
3. The act of pulling a large net underwater to catch marine life ; the careful and systematic review of material to find particular items or facts

Etymology: The verb "trawl" arrived in English in the 16th century from Dutch, where "tragelen" meant to pull something along with a towline. That Dutch verb came from Middle Dutch "traghelen," itself built on "traghel," a word for a dragnet. Fishermen in the Low Countries were dragging nets behind boats long before English speakers had a word for the practice, so the borrowing filled a gap in the vocabulary of the sea. The Dutch "traghel" is thought to go back to Latin "tragula," also a dragnet, which is why the term sits in the same family as the English "drag." Much of the sense is still there: a trawl net is hauled along the seabed, and the same action, dragged through something, gives us the figurative "trawling" through records or files in search of a particular item.

Synonyms: drag, sweep, search, scour, probe

Antonyms: ignore, neglect, overlook, miss, discard