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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
prowl
I.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
about
▪ There was nothing to do but read, but it was impossible to read for long with Aunt Emily prowling about.
around
▪ She could hear him prowling around the kitchen and when she went down he was looking through her manuscripts.
▪ But one afternoon Ellen was prowling around in his basement and found his thought-drawer.
▪ Under Dauntless's watchful eye, Cleo prowled around the attic, exploring.
▪ The Plot One day a cat was outside prowling around.
▪ If the killer comes prowling around to their side of the tree, they simply dart to the blind side again.
▪ And three times since breakfast she found unauthorized people prowling around - one of them in the labor room, no less!
▪ Countless watchdogs prowl around the budget-making process.
▪ They'd come in prowling around.
■ NOUN
street
▪ Able-bodied youngsters were prowling the streets in droves.
▪ Dozens of white mobs prowled the streets.
▪ He prowled the streets looking, hoping to be picked off.
▪ The atmosphere is charged - the camera prowls street demos and violence and impassioned rhetoric spurts from citizens on every corner.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Officer Watson prowls the streets at night, looking for drug dealers.
▪ Police have warned the public that the killer may still be prowling the streets.
▪ Several wolves prowled round the camp, but were kept at bay by the fire.
▪ The babysitter said she could hear someone prowling around in the garden.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Able-bodied youngsters were prowling the streets in droves.
▪ Along a side street there prowled, one recent morning, a spanking white Rolls-Royce.
▪ Dreamy, deft and economical, it was born to prowl the airwaves.
▪ It was rather a free feeling, he noticed, prowling about the house at such an odd hour.
▪ Men prowled the motel like packs of wolves searching out easy prey.
▪ She had to steal out of the house before it started prowling again.
II.noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ At the County Ground, the wolves were on the prowl right from the word go.
▪ Dada had disappeared on some sort of little prowl of his own.
▪ Four victims so far and three fortuitous, but he's probably been on the prowl for three years or more.
▪ I find Rainbow in her taxi, on the prowl.
▪ Moving with the sureness of a cat on the prowl, he flitted back through the hold and outside.
▪ She always warned him, in whispered anxious tones, whenever the Bogeyman was on the prowl.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Prowl

Prowl \Prowl\, v. i. To rove or wander stealthily, esp. for prey, as a wild beast; hence, to prey; to plunder.

Prowl

Prowl \Prowl\, n. The act of prowling. [Colloq.]
--Smart.

Prowl

Prowl \Prowl\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prowled; p. pr. & vb. n. Prowling.] [OE. prollen to search about; of uncertain origin, perh. for proglen, a dim. of prog to beg, or proke to poke. Cf. Proke.]

  1. To rove over, through, or about in a stealthy manner; esp., to search in, as for prey or booty.

    He prowls each place, still in new colors decked. -- Sir P. Sidney.

  2. To collect by plunder; as, to prowl money. [Obs.]

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
prowl

late 14c., prollen, "move about in search of something," of unknown origin, with no known cognates. Spelling with -w- is from 1500s (compare bowls), but pronounced "prôll" till late 18c. Meaning "go stealthily in search of prey" is first recorded 1580s. Related: Prowled; prowling. The noun, in on the prowl, is attested from 1803.

Wiktionary
prowl

n. (context colloquial English) The act of prowling. vb. To rove over, through, or about in a stealthy manner; especially, to search in, as for prey or booty.

WordNet
prowl
  1. n. the act of prowling (walking about in a stealthy manner)

  2. v. move about in or as if in a predatory manner; "The suspicious stranger prowls the streets of the town"

  3. loiter about, with no apparent aim [syn: lurch]

Wikipedia
Prowl

Prowl may refer to:

  • Prowl, walking while partially squatting to maintain a low profile
  • Predation, a biological interaction where a predator, an organism that is hunting, feeds on its prey
  • Prowl (Transformers), a fictional character in the Transformers universe
  • Prowl (album), a 2006 album by cellist Erik Friedlander
  • Prowl (film), a horror film starring Bruce Payne
  • "Prowl" (band), formerly an alt-rock band from York, UK (Years active: 2008-2012)
Prowl (film)

Prowl is a 2010 American horror film directed by Patrik Syversen and written by Tim Tori and starring Courtney Hope, Ruta Gedmintas and Bruce Payne.

Prowl (album)

Prowl is a 2006 album by cellist Erik Friedlander performing his compositions with the quartet that previously appeared on Topaz which was released on the Cryptogramophone label.

Usage examples of "prowl".

He nearly got up, then, to prowl the terrace and see if any of his bonsai had begun to wilt, so that he would know which ones to tend to first .

Maybe I was imagining things, but I thought the horological demon sounded slightly worried at having me awake and prowling around at that hour.

For a moment it seemed something massively alien ground against his body like a prowling dragon.

So long as the wispy aerial plankton that fed him continued to drift up from the lands below, he prowled his thin niche untroubled.

And you prowl the back roads of America in your flying saucer, mutilating cows and performing proctologies on rednecks.

After the night meal Ric and two other greenbacks were picked by a prowling Flame for a special job unloading a cargo from a ship that had just landed on the roof.

He wore it for a variety of reasons-because it helped to ward off prowling females, because it was habitual, because every time he looked at it he still felt the sting of grief and guilt.

When Mitch came back downstairs, Megan was prowling around his living room restlessly.

Mitch said, prowling the room with his hands in his pockets, his head down, brow furrowed.

After a few minutes we found him prowling catlike down one of the corridors.

Nearly all of his digits boasted a shiny bauble, and his teeth gleamed when he smiled, giving him the uneasy appearance of a prowling wolf.

There would probably be a night watchman prowling on the first floor, hovering near the entranceway, and waiting for daylight and relief.

Amen through his dream, but it was like prowling through an abandoned house, empty even of furniture.

He opened it and sipped the tender delicacy from the container, while curiosity sent him prowling through the rooms.

Their destinations were the same as when they had driven regular daily routes for human passengers: salesmen calling on regular customers, inspectors making their rounds, taxis prowling their assigned service areas.