patrol
verb (used without object)
(of a police officer, soldier, etc.) to pass along a road, beat, etc., or around or through a specified area in order to maintain order and security.
had been patrolling
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past perfect progressiveof patrol.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For nearly six hours, nobody checked his condition, including five Los Angeles Police Department officers who had been patrolling the platform.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2024
The police had been patrolling the beach and tried to stop them but most ignored the armed officers and started climbing onto the inflatable.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2024
Mike Vickers, who runs the Texas Border Volunteers, said his group had been patrolling on private land to act as lookouts and report suspicious activity to law enforcement for 16 years.
From New York Times ● May 9, 2023
Security guard Demetrus Dugar had been patrolling Pioneer Square’s Broderick Building for more than a decade when the pandemic arrived.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 16, 2022
Kennedy and his crew had been patrolling passages in the Solomon Islands of the South Pacific, one of many World War II battlegrounds between the United States and Japan.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
