trawl

1 of 2

verb

trawled; trawling; trawls

intransitive verb

1
a
: to fish with a trawl
b
: to make a search as if by trawling
2

transitive verb

: to catch (fish) with a trawl

trawl

2 of 2

noun

1
: a large conical net dragged along the sea bottom in gathering fish or other marine life
2

Examples of trawl in a Sentence

Verb The boat trawled far out at sea. a fishing boat trawling the ocean floor He trawled the Internet looking for websites on growing grapes. She was trawling through old letters for information about her family.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Verb
Define your unique insights and package them into posts, trawl the news for things your audience should care about and add your slant, then share the behind the scenes and day-in-the-life moments of your world and work. Jodie Cook, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025 Research vessel Blue Heron trawls the Great Lakes, gathering data from the water. Taylor Nicioli, CNN Money, 1 Aug. 2025
Noun
Beach Park Fire Chief Tom Stahl and Winthrop Harbor Fire Chief Rocco Campanella sit, looking out at Lake Michigan, where a half-dozen boats trawl along the beachfront around the boulders of the breakwaters. Joseph States, Chicago Tribune, 30 July 2025 Before long, what started as a quirky obsession for the store worker became a collective quest for answers, even prompting trawls through historical records. Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for trawl

Word History

Etymology

Verb

probably from obsolete Dutch tragelen

First Known Use

Verb

1561, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Noun

1759, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of trawl was in 1561

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Trawl.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trawl. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.

Kids Definition

trawl

1 of 2 verb
: to fish or catch with a trawl

trawl

2 of 2 noun
1
: a large cone-shaped net dragged along the sea bottom in fishing
2

More from Merriam-Webster on trawl

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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