The Collaborative International Dictionary
Patrol \Pa*trol"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Patrolled; p. pr. & vb. n. Patrolling.] [F. patrouiller, O. & Prov. F. patrouiller to paddle, paw about, patrol, fr. patte a paw; cf. D. poot paw, G. pfote, and E. pat, v.] To go the rounds along a chain of sentinels; to traverse a police district or beat.
Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of patrol English)
WordNet
n. a detachment used for security or reconnaissance
the activity of going around or through an area at regular intervals for security purposes
a group that goes through a region at regular intervals for the purpose of security
[also: patrolling, patrolled]
v. maintain the security of by carrying out a control [syn: police]
[also: patrolling, patrolled]
See patrol
Wikipedia
Patrolling is a military tactic. Small groups or individual units are deployed from a larger formation to achieve a specific objective and then return. The tactic of patrolling may be applied to ground troops, armoured units, naval units, and combat aircraft. The duration of a patrol will vary from a few hours to several weeks depending on the nature of the objective and the type of units involved.
There are several different types of patrol each with a different objective. The most common is to collect information by carrying out a reconnaissance patrol. Such a patrol may try to remain clandestine and observe an enemy without themselves being detected. Other reconnaissance patrols are overt, especially those that interact with the civilian population.
Usage examples of "patrolling".
In late December, he began harassing coalition air forces patrolling the southern no-fly zones, but all this achieved was angry warnings from the United States, France, Britain, and Russia and the loss of an Iraqi MiG in combat with a U.
Dust motes floated in the subdued rays of light that played on the heads and shoulders of the congregation and there was movement everywhere, bodies shifting on the benches, distraught children waving their arms in the air, Blackshirts patrolling the centre aisle, weapons at the ready.
There were cries of protest from the people packed into those benches and the Blackshirts sitting among them hit out, one of the patrolling guards even poking his rifle into the head of a skinny youth on an end seat.
For two days they skirted the Wolf demesne, not daring to ride on their own lands in case the Boars were patrolling them.
We made life so miserable for the defenders by maintaining a steady drop of arrows, and by patrolling the river entrance to this path, that finally we were enabled to drive out those holding the gate, and seizing the earthworks we cut the city entirely off from its water supply.
There were strong, well-trained muscles under those silken tunics, hard bodies that saw furlongs of patrolling every day.
From his high vantage he could see the other aerial traffic of the valley: a few hot-air balloon-trains lofting to cross the eastern barrier on the way to Rawliston, dozens of other gliders patrolling the slopes or carrying urgent messages and light freight from one town to another.
The latter was engaged as a matter of procedure more than anything else, since the two patrolling orcas provided a far more efficient advance detection system than anything composed of circuitry and transceivers.
The vigilance of all patrolling was redoubled, and such was the effectiveness of the measures taken that before a month nearly every one of the fugitives had been retaken and sent back to Florence.
The skylights dazzled-the river was on fire with them, and speckled with the insect shadows of rotors landing on barges and the patrolling gunships lumbering back and forth.
He argued stubbornly, wept when he was punished, and even at night, in the stillness of the tent lines, when the soft tread of the patrolling sergeants and officers listening for mutiny could be heard outside, Marriott cried.
She rode at anchor in the port of Yalta, and except for armed guards patrolling the decks there was no sign of life.
Since early 1999, Iraqi air defense forces have been shooting at coalition planes patrolling the no-fly zones on an almost daily basis, provoking the coalition pilots to respond in self-defense from time to time.
From where I lay I could see four other armed men-there were probably many more patrolling the decks of the ticonderoga and four others on the afterdeck of the campari.
CHAPTER 8 Father Marin had warned Frederickson that it might take a full month for a man to walk from Arcachon to Caen, but that was by daylight and without needing to avoid cither predatory bandits or patrolling provosts.