searches

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of search.

   The officer searches every bag before letting passengers board.

   A good editor searches each draft for errors others miss.

   Note

   The form carries every construction of the verb. With a direct object, that object is the place being looked through, as in searches the bag. Used intransitively, it means looking thoroughly. With for, it marks what is sought, as in searches each draft for errors. Typing a phrase into a search engine takes the same form. The older uses, meaning to seek, to test, or to probe a wound, are now archaic or obsolete.

   She searches the archive for any mention of the ship.

   He searches the phrase online before quoting it.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of search.

   Rescue teams conducted three separate searches before nightfall.

   Repeated searches of the database returned the same incomplete records.

   Note

   The countable side of search: each one is a separate attempt to find something, so rescue teams carry out searches, and a database can be queried many times. The general, uncountable sense, the act of looking itself, normally stays singular. The -es ending follows the -ch, as in churches. The same spelling also serves as the verb form, and the surrounding words, such as a number, an article or a subject, tell them apart.

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