trawlnet

Variant of trawl

noun

  1. a large, baglike net dragged by a boat along the bottom of a fishing bank
  2. ☆ a long line supported by buoys, from which many short fishing lines are hung
  3. Chiefly Brit. a thorough search

Origin: < ? MDu traghel, dragnet < ? L tragula: see trail

transitive verb, intransitive verb

  1. to fish or catch with a trawl
  2. Chiefly Brit. to make a thorough search (of): often with through: to trawl a biography for telling anecdotes
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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