Search

From Middle English serchen, from Anglo-Norman sercher, Old French cerchier, from Latin circare.

Full definition of search

(transitive) To look in (a place) for something.
I searched the garden for the keys and found them in the vegetable patch.
(intransitive, followed by "for") To look thoroughly.

John LockeIt sufficeth that they have once with care sifted the matter, and searched into all the particulars.
2013-07-06, The rise of smart beta, 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.

1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.vi:To search the God of loue, her Nymphes she sent
Throughout the wandring forrest euery where ...
Bible, Ezekiel xxxiv. 11I will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
MiltonEnough is left besides to search and know.

1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I:ther they refresshed hem as wel as they myght, and made leches serche theyr woundys and sorowed gretely for the dethe of her peple ...
1588, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, II.3:Now to the bottome dost thou search my wound.
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:Thus when they all had sorowed their fill,
They softly gan to search his griesly wownd ...
1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.35:His wife perceiving him to droope and languish away, entreated him she might leasurely search and neerely view the quality of his disease ...

(plural searches)

2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/nyregion/new-jersey-continues-to-cope-with-hurricane-sandy.html?hp," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012)At least eight people died, and officials expressed deep concerns that the toll would rise as more searches of homes were carried out.

With only five minutes until we were meant to leave, the search for the keys started in earnest.
The act of searching in general.

2013-06-14, Jonathan Freedland, Obama's once hip brand is now tainted, Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much.