search
verbEtymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der. Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos)bor. Latin circus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Late Latin circō Anglo-Norman sercherbor. Middle English serchen English search Inherited from Middle English serchen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman sercher, Old French cerchier, from Late Latin circō, ,circāre (“to circle; go around; search for”), from circus. Unrelated to German suchen, which is cognate with English seek.
1
To look in (a place) for something.
- I searched the garden for the keys and found them in the vegetable patch.
2
Followed by "for" To look thoroughly.
- The police are searching for evidence in his flat.
- It sufficeth that they have once with care and fairness sifted the matter as far as they could, and searched into all the particulars.1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:
2 more examples
- He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance.[…]But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again[…]she found her mother standing up before the seat on which she had sat all the evening searching anxiously for her with her eyes, and her father by her side.1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter I, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC:
- Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8843, page 68:
3
Archaic To look for, seek.
- To search the God of loue, her Nymphes she sent / Throughout the wandring forrest euery where[…].1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 34:11:
1 more example
- Anough is left besides to search and know.1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
4
To put a phrase into a search engine, especially one besides Google.
- I searched "Paris Hilton" and found lots of unflattering stories.
5
Obsolete To probe or examine (a wound).
- Now torne we to the xj kynges that retorned vnto a cyte that hyghte Sorhaute / the whiche cyte was within kynge Vryens / and ther they refresshed hem as wel as they myght / and made leches serche theyr woundys and sorowed gretely for the dethe of her peple1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xvj”, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:
- Now to the bottome dost thou search my wound.c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
2 more examples
- Thus when they all had sorowed their fill, / They softly gan to search his griesly wownd[…].1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- His wife perceiving him to droope and languish away, entreated him she might leasurely search and neerely view the quality of his disease[…].1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 35, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
6
Obsolete To examine; to try; to put to the test.
- Derived terms
75 terms
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