Definition of: trawl

(trôl) noun
1. A stout line, sometimes over a mile long, anchored and buoyed, and having hanging from it many lines frequently spaced and bearing baited hooks: also called trotline.
2. A great net shaped like a flattened bag, for towing on the bottom of the ocean by a boat.
—v.t. To drag, as a net to catch fish.
—v.i. To fish with a trawl line, trawl net, or the like. [Cf. MDu. traghel a dragnet; prob. infl. by trail]
—trawl′ing noun