search

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
search/sɜːtʃ/

▶verb

• 1 try to find something by looking or otherwise seeking carefully and thoroughly.

  ■ examine thoroughly in order to find something.

  ■ look for information in (a computer network or database) by using a search engine.

• 2 (as adj. searching) scrutinizing thoroughly, especially in a disconcerting way.

▶noun an act of searching.

■ Law an investigation of public records to find if a property is subject to any liabilities or encumbrances.

■ Computing the systematic retrieval of information, or the facility for this.

– phrases
search me! informal I do not know.

– derivatives
searchability noun,
searchable adjective,
searcher noun,
searchingly adverb.

– origin ME: from OFr. cerchier (v.), from late L. circare ‘go round’, from L. circus ‘circle’.