Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1500-1600
Language: Middle Dutch
Origin: tragelen, from tragel 'net pulled along behind', probably from Latin tragula; TRAIL1

trawl

1 verb
     
trawl1 [intransitive and transitive]
1 to search through a lot of documents, lists etc in order to find out information
trawl through
I'll have to trawl through all my lecture notes again.
trawl for
She spent the morning in the library, trawling for information for her project.
2TA to fish by pulling a special wide net behind a boat
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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