to fish by dragging a large net through the water, or to search through something laboriously looking for something specific.
From Dutch 'traghel,' the name of a fishing net, possibly connected to 'trail.' Became a metaphorical verb meaning to search through large amounts of material.
Industrial trawling nets are so efficient they've devastated ocean fish populations—they accidentally catch and kill thousands of non-target creatures, making trawling one of the environmental issues that shaped modern conservation laws.
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