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dragnet

Pronunciation: /ˈdɹæɡˌnɛt/

The English word “dragnet” has 4 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A net dragged across the bottom of a body of water.
  2. A heightened effort by law enforcement personnel undertaken in order to capture suspects.

verb

  1. To drag a net across the bottom of a body of water.
  2. To undertake a heightened effort to catch a suspect.

Etymology

From drag + net, probably based on the model of Middle English draynet, dreynett (“dragnet”), Old English dræġnet, dræġnett (“dragnet”), equivalent to dray + net. Cognate with Swedish dragnät, Norwegian dragnett, from Icelandic dragnet.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.