trawl
noun
a strong fishing net for dragging along the sea bottom.
had been trawling
-
past perfect progressiveof trawl.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.
After the Guardian reported a sweeping secret court against a subsidiary of Verizon, it emerged that the US government had been trawling vast amounts of phone data for at least seven years.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 8, 2013
Those who had been trawling all day hauled their trawls on board; and those which had been brought up, lifted their anchors, and all made sail together.
From The Ferryman of Brill and other stories by William Henry Giles Kingston
