trawlverb
uk/trɔːl/us/trɑːl/trawl verb (FISH)
[ T ] to pull a large, cone-shaped net through the sea at a deep level behind a special boat in order to catch fish:
They trawl these waters for cod.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Commercial fishing
- aerator
- bycatch
- dragnet
- drift net
- factory ship
- fish
- fisherman
- fishery
- fishing
- lobster pot
- oyster bed
- trawler
trawl verb (SEARCH)
[ I or T, usually + adv/prep ] to search among a large number or many different places in order to find people or information you want:
The software is used to trawl for information on the internet.
You need to trawl through a lot of data to get results that are valid.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Searching
- a needle in a haystack idiom
- beachcomber
- bounty hunter
- burrow
- cast around
- dig
- drag
- nose
- once-over
- pick
- pick through sth
- poke
- poke around
- seek
- strip search
- trail
- turn a place inside out idiom
- turn sth upside down idiom
- wanted
- wild-goose chase
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trawlnoun [ C ]
uk/trɔːl/us/trɑːl/trawl noun [ C ] (SEARCH)
a search among a large number or many different places in order to find people or information you want:
We did a wide trawl to find the right person to play the part.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Searching
- a needle in a haystack idiom
- beachcomber
- bounty hunter
- burrow
- cast around
- dig
- drag
- nose
- once-over
- pick
- pick through sth
- poke
- poke around
- seek
- strip search
- trail
- turn a place inside out idiom
- turn sth upside down idiom
- wanted
- wild-goose chase
See more results »
trawl noun [ C ] (NET)
also trawl net a large, cone-shaped net used for trawling the water for fish
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Commercial fishing
- aerator
- bycatch
- dragnet
- drift net
- factory ship
- fish
- fisherman
- fishery
- fishing
- lobster pot
- oyster bed
- trawler