trawl

UK[trɔːl]US[trɑːl]

to fish or catch something by pulling a large net, called a trawl, through the water behind a boat

to search through a large amount of information, a list, etc. carefully in order to find a particular thing or person

a large net with a wide opening that is pulled along the bottom of the sea by a boat in order to catch fish

Etymology

the word 'trawl' likely entered english in the 16th century from the middle dutch word 'traghel', meaning a dragnet, which itself may be derived from the latin 'tragula', a dragnet or sledge. the latin term is thought to originate from the verb 'trahere', meaning 'to drag or pull'. this etymological journey from 'to drag' to the specific method of fishing perfectly encapsulates the core action of the practice: dragging a net through the water. over time, the semantic field of 'trawl' expanded metaphorically, applying the methodical, sweeping action of the fishing net to the process of searching through extensive data or collections.

Analysis

the word 'trawl' is a simplex word of uncertain, possibly dutch or middle low german origin. it entered english as a complete lexical unit referring to the fishing net or method.

Examples

the fishing boat will trawl for cod in the deep waters of the north atlantic.

i had to trawl through hundreds of applications to find a suitable candidate.

environmentalists are campaigning against the use of bottom trawls, which damage the seafloor.