trawl

verb

• 1fish with a trawl net or seine:the boats trawled for flounder (as noun trawling)restrictions on trawling
• [with object] catch with a trawl or seine: British cod is being replaced by hoki, trawled from great depths off New Zealand
• [with object] drag or trail (something) through water:she trawled a toe to test the temperature

• 2search thoroughly:the Home Office trawled through twenty-five-year-old confidential files [with object]:he trawled his memory and remembered locking the door

noun

• 1an act of fishing with a trawl net or seine: they had caught two trout on the lazy trawl up-lake
• (also trawl net) a large wide-mouthed fishing net dragged by a boat along the bottom of the sea or a lake.

• 2a thorough search:a constant trawl for information

• 3 (also trawl line) North American a long sea-fishing line along which are tied buoys supporting baited hooks on short lines.