probern.
/ˈprəʊbə/, U.S. /ˈproʊbər/ A person who or thing which probes.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > [noun] > person conducting
searchera1382
inseerc1438
intracer?a1475
inquisitor?1504
investigator1538
peruser1549
tracer1552
scrutineer1557
examinant1587
revisitor1594
examiner?1608
examinator1612
researcher1615
indagator1620
ferret1629
pryer1674
probator1691
disquisitor1766
grubber1776
prober1777
grubbler1813
detective1850
expiscator1882
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > close examination, scrutiny > [noun] > person or thing performing
sifter1578
prober1777
1777 W. Dodd Thoughts in Prison iii. 87 Of the Mind's wounds The deepest prober, but the safest cure!
1848 Amer. Whig Rev. Dec. 632/1 He was thus a great prober of wounds, but had no balm to pour into them.
1890 Pall Mall Gaz. 27 Nov. 3/1 That greatest prober of the secrets of science, the microscope.
1894 Athenæum 12 May 624/2 Probers of feminine hearts.
1937 E. Lyons Assignment in Utopia (1938) ii. xiv. 226 The main body of amateur sociologists,..earnest probers, socialite thrill-hunters, and miscellaneous neurotics did not take possession [of Moscow] until the following years.
1954 L. MacNeice Autumn Sequel 75 The probing mind begins to fail the prober.
1993 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 16 July a10/6 (heading) War-crime probers seek help.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1777