search

Etymology

From Middle English serchen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman sercher, Old French cerchier, from Late Latin circō, circāre (“to circle; go around; search for”), from Latin circa, circus. Not related to German suchen, which is cognate with English seek.

noun

1. An attempt to find something.
   With only five minutes until we were meant to leave, the search for the keys started in earnest.
   At least eight people died, and officials expressed deep concerns that the toll would rise as more searches of homes were carried out. October 31 2012, David M. Halbfinger, New York Times, retrieved 2012-10-31
2. The act of searching in general.
   Search is a hard problem for computers to solve efficiently.
   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. 2013-06-14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18

verb

1. (transitive) To look in (a place) for something.
   I searched the garden for the keys and found them in the vegetable patch.
2. (intransitive, followed by "for") To look thoroughly.
   The police are searching for evidence in his flat.
   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. 2013-07-06, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8843, page 68
3. (transitive, now rare) To look for, seek.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To probe or examine (a wound).
5. (obsolete) To examine; to try; to put to the test.