Searched Searching I Search Find Police High Low

• she searched in vain for her passport.
• police searched for clues in the area.
• the customs officers searched through our bags.
• i've searched high and low for those files.

search

1. to look carefully for something/somebody; to examine a particular place when looking for somebody/something
• She searched in vain for her passport.
• Police searched for clues in the area.
• The customs officers searched through our bags.
• I've searched high and low for those files.
• I found these photos while searching among some old papers.
• His house had clearly been searched and the book was missing.
• Police searched the area for clues.
• Firefighters searched the buildings for survivors.
• searching the Web for interesting sites
2. to examine somebody’s clothes, their pockets, etc. in order to find something that they may be hiding
• see also strip-search
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/strip-search_2
• Visitors are regularly searched as they enter the building.
• The youths were arrested and searched for anything that would incriminate them.
3. to think carefully about something, especially in order to find the answer to a problem
• see also soul-searching
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/soul-searching
• He searched desperately for something to say.
• The committee has been searching for new ways to tackle youth unemployment.
4. used to emphasize that you do not know the answer to somebody’s question
• ‘Why didn't she say anything?’ ‘Search me!’

Extra Examples

• For the rest of the morning he searched aimlessly through the town.
• He searched in his pocket and found a few coins.
• I have searched high and low and cannot find them.
• I searched around for a thick stick.
• I searched through a drawer for my passport.
• Police are still searching for the missing child.
• The area has been thoroughly searched.
• We searched among the rocks for crabs.
• We searched the house from top to bottom.
• You can also search online for a job.
• actively searching for something to keep the conversation going
• searching through a drawer
• Firefighters searched the building for survivors.
• I found out more about the company by searching online.
• I was searching this history website for something about Alexander the Great.
• I’ve searched high and low for those files, but I can’t find them anywhere.
• It’s a software tool for searching documents and retrieving information.
• Search the index to find the address of the data file.
• The customs officers searched through her bag.

Verb Forms

• present simple I / you / we / they search
• he / she / it searches
• past simple searched
• past participle searched
• -ing form searching

Word Origin

• Middle English: from Old French cerchier (verb), from late Latin circare ‘go round’, from Latin circus ‘circle’.