search

1. 1

   An attempt to find something.countableuncountable

   • With only five minutes until we were meant to leave, the search for the keys started in earnest.
2. 2

   The act of searching in general.countableuncountable

   • Search is a hard problem for computers to solve efficiently.

1. 1

   To look in (a place) for something.transitive

   • I searched the garden for the keys and found them in the vegetable patch.
2. 2

   To look thoroughly.intransitive

   • The police are searching for evidence in his flat.
3. 3

   To look for, seek.archaictransitive

   • To search the God of loue, her Nymphes she sent / Throughout the wandring forrest euery where[…].
   • For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
4. 4

   To put a phrase into a search engine, especially one besides Google.transitive

   • I searched "Paris Hilton" and found lots of unflattering stories.
5. 5

   To probe or examine (a wound).obsoletetransitive

   • Now to the bottome dost thou search my wound.
   • Thus when they all had sorowed their fill, / They softly gan to search his griesly wownd[…].
6. 6

   To examine; to try; to put to the test.obsolete

syn. scour · seek · comb