[trɔːl], (Verb)

Definitions:
- fish with a trawl net or seine
(e.g: the boats trawled for flounder)

- search thoroughly
(e.g: the Home Office trawled through twenty-five-year-old confidential files)


Phrases:

Origin:
mid 16th century (as a verb): probably from Middle Dutch traghelen ‘to drag’ (related to traghel ‘dragnet’), perhaps from Latin tragula ‘dragnet’

[trɔːl], (Noun)

Definitions:
- an act of fishing with a trawl net or seine
(e.g: they had caught two trout on the lazy trawl up-lake)

- a thorough search
(e.g: a constant trawl for information)


Phrases:

Origin:
mid 16th century (as a verb): probably from Middle Dutch traghelen ‘to drag’ (related to traghel ‘dragnet’), perhaps from Latin tragula ‘dragnet’