/ trɔːl; NAmE / verb , noun
■ verb
1.
trawl (through sth) (for sth/sb) | trawl sth (for sth/sb) to search through a large amount of information or a large number of people, places, etc. looking for a particular thing or person :
[ vn ]
She trawled the shops for bargains.
[ v ]
The police are trawling through their files for similar cases.
2.
[ v ] trawl (for sth) to fish for sth by pulling a large net with a wide opening through the water
■ noun
1.
a search through a large amount of information, documents, etc. :
A quick trawl through the newspapers yielded five suitable job adverts.
2.
(also ˈtrawl net ) a large net with a wide opening, that is dragged along the bottom of the sea by a boat in order to catch fish
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WORD ORIGIN
mid 16th cent. (as a verb): probably from Middle Dutch traghelen to drag (related to traghel dragnet), perhaps from Latin tragula dragnet.