trawled; trawling; trawls
1
a
: to fish with a trawl
b
: to make a search as if by trawling
2
: to catch (fish) with a trawl
1
: a large conical net dragged along the sea bottom in gathering fish or other marine life
2
: setline
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
Lauren Liebhaber, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 Jan. 2025
Researchers trawling through libraries and archives stumbled onto an early ghost story by Dracula author Bram Stoker, a 12-minute composition written by a teenage Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and 800 pages of sheet music from George Gershwin’s first full-length musical.
—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Dec. 2024
Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 12 Feb. 2025
On a new search screen accessible from the homepage, Reddit Answers takes anyone’s queries, trawls the site for relevant discussions and debates, and composes them into a response.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 29 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for trawl 
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Verb
The Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Coastal Fisheries division caught a rock sea bass while trawling in Aransas Bay, according to a Jan. 15 Facebook post from the agency.
—Lauren Liebhaber, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 Jan. 2025
Researchers trawling through libraries and archives stumbled onto an early ghost story by Dracula author Bram Stoker, a 12-minute composition written by a teenage Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and 800 pages of sheet music from George Gershwin’s first full-length musical.
—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Dec. 2024
Noun
In the depths of the north Pacific, long wriggling creatures were caught up in the trawl of a research vessel off the coast of Russia.
—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 12 Feb. 2025
On a new search screen accessible from the homepage, Reddit Answers takes anyone’s queries, trawls the site for relevant discussions and debates, and composes them into a response.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 29 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for trawl
Dictionary Entries Near trawl
Cite this Entry
“Trawl.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trawl. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
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