Also 7 trall, (troul, 8–9 trowl). [Origin and age obscure. If quot. 1481–90 belongs here, trawelle might be related to rare MDu. traghel drag-net (in Teuthonista, 1475), referred by Verwijs and Verdam ult. to L. tragula drag-net. But the MS. reading is indistinct, and some would read tramelle (TRAMMEL sb.1 1).
Apart from quot. 1481–90, the vb. appears earlier than the sb., and may be its source, but is no less obscure in origin. The forms troul, trowl were perh. due to confusion with trowl, TROLL, another fishing term.]
I. 1. A strong net or bag dragged along the bottom of fishing-banks; a drag-net; = TRAWL-NET 1; esp. that now often distinguished as the beam-trawl, described in its modern form in quot. 1880. Also applied to a similar smaller drag-net used for the scientific investigation of the sea-bottom, dredging for deep-sea organisms, etc.
[1481–90. Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.), 192. My lorde Rekened with his netter and he had sent home to stoke a dragge of viij fadam ye fadam xij d…. Item a trawelle (?) of vij fadam, the Fadam vj d.]
1759. B. Martin, Nat. Hist. Eng., I. Isle of Wight, 120. Tho’ the Method of using Trawls, which of late Years has prevailed, is no small Diminution of their Plenty, it being found by Experience to destroy the Spawn.
1763. Ellis, in Phil. Trans., LIII. 419. The Animal … was taken in a trawl in 72 fathoms water.
1834. [see TRAWL-NET 1].
1877. W. Thomson, Voy. Challenger, I. i. 17. A portion of a huge Pyrosoma … was brought up in the trawl.
1880. Chambers’s Encycl., IX. 524. The Trawl, or Beam-trawl … is a triangular purse-shaped net, about 70 feet long, usually having a breadth of about 40 feet at the mouth, and gradually diminishing to 4 or 5 feet at the commencement of the cod, or smaller end…, which is about 10 feet long, and of nearly uniform breadth. The upper part of the mouth is secured to a wooden beam about 40 feet long, which keeps the net open; this beam is supported on two upright iron frames, known as the trawl-heads or irons. The under side of the net … is made with a deeply-curved margin attached to the ground-rope, the whole length of it in contact with the ground…. Two stout ropes … are fastened, one to the front of each of the trawl-heads, the other ends united to form a bridle, to which is shackled a warp 150 fathoms long. By this warp the trawl is towed. Ibid., 525. A kind of trawl called the pole-trawl … is now used only in the south of Ireland. It is much less effective than the beam-trawl.
1884. Science, IV. 225/2. American appliances for deep-sea investigation.—Trawls and Tangles. Ibid., 226/2. The method of attaching the bridle in the Challenger trawl was similar to that afterwards adopted for the Blake trawl.
1887. E. J. Mather, Nor’ard of Dogger, ix. (1889), 114. The cry or the watch on deck, ‘Haul here! haul the trawl! all haul! all haul!’ roused me at 5 a.m.
† 2. (?) The action of trawling, or (?) a trawling-ground. Obs. rare.
1630. in Descr. of Thames (1758), 76. No Trawler to work in Tilbury Hope after Michaelmas, with any Manner of Net under four Inches for Plaice all the Net over. And no Trawler to come upon any Trawl with any other Net at any Time of the Year.
II. 3. U.S. Applied to a buoyed line used in sea-fishing, having numerous short lines with baited hooks attached at intervals: see quot. 1864; a trawl-line. Cf. also trawl-anchor, -buoy, -roller in 4.
To set, shoot, or throw a trawl, to place a baited trawl-line in position for fishing; to strip a trawl, to examine a trawl-line in position and remove the fish caught.
(The connection of this with sense 1 is doubtful.)
1864. Webster, Trawl,… a long line, sometimes extending a mile or more, having short lines with baited hooks attached to it, used for catching certain fish, as cod, mackerel, and the like. Ibid., s.v. Trawl-line, It is used in deep-sea fishing, and is over-hauled every hour or so by men in small boats, who remove the fish (strip the trawl) and rebait the hooks.
1897. Kipling, Captains Courageous, 75. I helped bait up trawl ashore ’fore I could well walk.
III. 4. attrib. and Comb., as trawl-boat, -fish, -fisherman, -fishing, -hawse, -smack, -twine; trawl-anchor, a small anchor for a trawl-line (Cent. Dict., 1891); trawl-beam, the beam that holds open the mouth of a trawl-net; trawl-buoy, a buoy for buoying up a trawl-line; trawl-head (see quots.); trawl-keg, a keg-buoy used in connection with a trawl-line (Cent. Dict.); trawl-line: see sense 3; trawl-man, one trained to use a trawl or drag-net; one who fishes with a trawl-net (in either sense); trawl-master, the master of a trawler: see TRAWLER 2; trawl-roller: see quot.; trawl-warp, the warp or rope of a trawl-net; trawl-wings sb. pl., towing-nets attached one to each side of a small beam-trawl for the collection of free-swimming animals. See also TRAWL-NET.
1904. Kipling, in Windsor Mag., Jan., 226/2. At no time could we see the trawler, though we heard the click of her windlass, the jar of her *trawl-beam.
1799. Naval Chron., I. 344. A mast for his *trawl boat.
1636. Maldon, Essex, Borough Deeds, Bundle 110, lf. 4. Re[ceived] for the groundage of a boate that brought *trall fish, 2d.
1865. Daily Tel., 5 Jan., 5/1. 80,000 tons of ‘trawl-fish’ alone … are sent to the metropolis in [a year].
1886. York Herald, 10 Aug., 7/5. There was a good supply of trawl fish at to-day’s market, brought in by cutters.
1907. Q. Rev., Jan., 163. Out of 600 bottles more than 54 per cent. were returned by *trawl-fishermen.
1895. Daily News, 16 April, 5/2. The new law enacted by the Danish Government prohibiting the carrying of *trawl fishing-gear within the territorial waters of Iceland.
1904. Daily Chron., 24 Oct., 5/2. One shot … went straight through the mizzen-mast, and passed through the casing and the trawl-fishing board.
1904. Blackw. Mag., Dec., 730. The swirl of the water beneath the *trawl-hawse.
1858. Lewes, Sea-side Stud., 277. Along the edge of the wide opening is a stout wooden beam, to the ends of which are fastened the *trawl heads, namely, thick flat semicircular bands of iron.
1880. [see sense 1].
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 48. Improved Trawl-heads, capable of clearing with safety submarine cable and similar obstacles.
1883. Standard, 13 Sept., 5/4. The ‘bultow’ is … a set line, called in some places a *‘trawl line.’
1775. Falck, Day’s Diving Vessel, 25. An experienced *trawlman, accustomed to sweeping [dragging the sea-bottom].
1864. [see TRAWL-NET 2].
1902. Scotsman, 3 Jan., 7/6. In Aberdeen, the headquarters of trawling, *trawlmasters ought to be more careful than anywhere else.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Trawl-roller, a roller having a number of grooves cut in its periphery, and attached to the side of the wherry or dory, and over which the trawls are drawn into the boat.
1895. Daily News, 20 May, 7/6. The *trawl smack Hilda also came in with a hand gone.
1864. Webster, *Trawl-warp, a rope passing through a block, used in managing or dragging a trawl-net.
1887. E. J. Mather, Nor’ard of Dogger (1888), 158. Our skipper … run out some eight-inch trawl-warp over each bow.
1884. Science, IV. 227/2. Fig. 3. The *trawl-wings attached to the beam-trawl in use.
