Example:
The police and dog spent the whole night [...] the area.
Is searching the only word? Or there are other ones?
-
3Mplungjan's "Combing" is an excellent answer and I've upvoted it but I'm wondering what your search for "searching" synonyms produced? Which synonyms did you find and why did you reject them?– Kristina LopezCommented Apr 21, 2015 at 16:16
-
2The title and example lead me to believe you were on a quest for grid search, not a synonym.– MazuraCommented Apr 22, 2015 at 4:44
-
Funnily enough policing in the US military means to walk the area searching for trash etc.– AbraCadaverCommented Apr 22, 2015 at 17:44
Add a comment
|
14 Answers
Combing (as a synonym for searching, not adjusting your hair with a utensil)
The police and dog spent the whole night combing the area
comb verb [T] (SEARCH)
› to search a place or an area very carefully in order to find something:
The police combed the whole area for evidence. Cambridge
Weird coincidence:
- Charlie Hebdo attack: Hundreds of elite armed police comb woodland ... Independent
- Armed police scour forest as Charlie Hebdo shooting... Telegraph
Also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtkK3eijBso
COMB THE DESERT!
-
3
-
11See my update for examples from real life. From Spaceballs: "COMB THE DESERT" Commented Apr 21, 2015 at 13:05
-
1
-
2
-
2@dennisdeems What is confusing you? Combing is searching thoroughly - likely on foot especially if you have dogs. But I could imagine someone combing an area in a helicopter or combing a high resolution image with a magnifying glass. The question is about searching more than walking since we are talking about police with dogs. Commented Apr 21, 2015 at 15:16
Nothing wrong with "searching" but if you want another word, I suggest "scouring".
- "The police and dogs spent the whole night scouring the area" sounds perfect.
scour (verb) "to look through (as a place) carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something."
- "The police scoured the city for the Typhoid Mary of this latest epidemic." MW
- " The detective scoured the scene of the crime for clues."
Police scour bushland for body after tip-off on missing boy. From ABC NEWS
answered Apr 21, 2015 at 12:48
-
I'm not sure that I would use "scour" to describe what search parties accompanied by dogs are doing. Dogs follow a scent trail, whereas "scouring" is an action performed by the eyes.– TimRCommented Apr 21, 2015 at 13:23
-
Depending on what you're looking for, "canvass" could also work: the police canvassed the area. This specifically implies talking to people, however, in order to get feedback - so it doesn't work in a wilderness setting.
-
1+1, I was also thinking canvassing. It typically implies inquiry in modern usage, but according to dictionary.reference.com/browse/canvass it can also just refer to "Close inspection; scrutiny" or "to examine carefully". Commented Apr 21, 2015 at 20:25
For walking, "patrolling" works best.
Patrol: the act of walking or going around or through an area, building, etc., in order to make sure that it is safe.
-
7
-
1
-
1@dennisdeems, combing can be walking in the context of searching for something. You can comb a neighborhood which can be done while walking, or you can comb a building - also done by walking. Commented Apr 21, 2015 at 16:18
-
1I disagree with claim that patrolling is not searching. If you are not keeping your eyes wide open for anything out of the ordinary, you're not patrolling. You're therefore, by definition, searching. Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 5:46
-
1Patrolling generally suggests something defensive, looking out for all threats, and, in most cases, you are watching out for mobile, incoming entities. You are watching for any item in a category of things that might be there or might be coming in. This is distinct enough from a search that is looking for a specific item that "patrol" would not really work for what the asker wants.– msouthCommented Apr 22, 2015 at 12:50
Hunt high and low (for someone or something) and look high and low (for someone or something);
- Fig. to look carefully in every possible place for someone or something. We looked high and low for the right teacher. The Smiths are searching high and low for the home of their dreams. (AHD)
The Free Dictionary
A quick search onMerriam-Webster and Collins suggests that there is no single word meaning to search for something by walking in the English language.
If by walking constitutes an important piece of information, I suggest you make it explicit by using e.g.:
He searched the woods on foot.
As for synonyms for searching I've got nothing to add to the previous answers.
-
@choster Thank you for the edits. Seems like I need to exercise my writing skills more. :)– TarokCommented Apr 22, 2015 at 7:52
If you're talking about a systematic search, quartering (see meaning 7 here) might work.
answered Apr 21, 2015 at 14:21
Simply walking.
to follow on foot for the purpose of measuring, surveying, or inspecting
walk a boundary [MW]
Example:
An officer soon spotted Long running on the railroad tracks behind the bank, and police brought in a police dog and walked the area around the bank to track him.
-
1I see the example. I have never seen it used in that sense Commented Apr 21, 2015 at 16:46
-
The context should indicate that it is about searching because "walk" might mean patrolling also in a similar sense. There are a lot of senses of "walk" but this sense is exactly "searching/inspecting on foot" and not by other means.– ermanenCommented Apr 21, 2015 at 16:58
You might consider the word scout.
Merriam-Websiter defines it as "to explore an area to obtain information (as about an enemy)" or "to make a search."
Here's an example of its usage in a context similar to your question:
Police scouted the area for someone matching the description but turned up nobody, the report states.
answered Apr 21, 2015 at 16:03
''Traversing'' would be the mathematical or computer science term.
The program traversed the entire filesystem checking for any remaining viruses.
-
1
When I was a Boy Scout the leaders taught us to "police the area" of a campsite when breaking it (shutting it down) before leaving: systematically searching on foot for any trash, gear or other conditions to address. The term is still used officially:
Form a line with your crew to police the area, picking up all trash and making sure no gear is left behind.
So while the term is used consistently with the Merriam-Webster primary definition of the verb:
to control and keep order in (an area) by the use of police or military forces
it does mean specifically the act of searching for something by walking. Which, since police officers do so as a matter of course, and are the main people in society who do so, the word "police" appears in most of this page's responses to this question. I think it's the most apropos term.
You could consider pounding, as it is closely related by idiom.
pound the pavement
Walk the streets, especially in search of employment.
A similar usage is pound a beat, meaning "to walk a particular route over and over"; it is nearly always applied to a police officer. [Early 1900s]
See also: pavement, pound
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
This is more in the vein of the patrolling and canvassing answers, but it is an excellent stand-in when an investigation loses a sense of immediacy and starts to stretch over days. If the search through the night is fruitless, then police would fall back to pounding the pavement to gather evidence and witness statements.
I have heard Peruse used to describe someone looking at items in a store before, which makes me think it could be used in this instance as well, although, it might sound a tad less aggressive than how you might want to use it.
from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peruse:
pe·ruse
transitive verb
1 a : to examine or consider with attention and in detail : study
b : to look over or through in a casual or cursory manner
(Collecting)
Police don't use a dog unless they're looking for something to obtain for criminal activity. So technically they would be collecting evidence, otherwise why would it specify police and a dog.
This is the only answer that is acceptable if you put the common sense Factor into play for this scenario or question, again the question specifies a police officer and a dog in the same situation about to obtain something therefore an action which is a verb; the only answer can be listed at the top of this paragraph.
-
1Collecting by itself doesn't fit the sample sentence in the question. Commented Feb 13, 2023 at 15:13