Prowl

//pɹaʊl// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of prowling. colloquial

    "I'm going on a midnight prowl."

  2. 2
    the act of prowling (walking about in a stealthy manner) wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To rove over, through, or about in a stealthy manner; especially, to search in, as for prey or booty. ambitransitive

    "Watch the lioness prowling in the shrubbery for zebras."

  2. 2
    move about in or as if in a predatory manner wordnet
  3. 3
    To idle; to go about aimlessly. intransitive

    "That dandy has nothing better to do than prowl around town all day in his pinstripe suit."

  4. 4
    loiter about, with no apparent aim wordnet
  5. 5
    To collect by plunder. obsolete, transitive

    "to prowl money"

Synonyms

All synonyms
bat aroundbumclandestine behaviorclandestinitycouchcount ties

Example

More examples

"Robbers prowl around at midnight."

Etymology

From Middle English prollen, of unknown origin.

Related phrases

on the prowlprowl car

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.