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Origin and history of prowl

prowl(v.)

late 14c., prollen, "rove or wander in a stealthy manner, move about in search of something," a word of unknown origin, with no known cognates. Spelling with -w- is from 1500s (compare bowls), but the word was pronounced "prôll" till late 18c. Transitive meaning "go stealthily over, as one in search of prey or plunder" is recorded by 1580s. Related: Prowled; prowling. The noun, in on the prowl, is attested from 1803.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to prowl

bowls(n.)

game played with balls, mid-15c. (implied in bowlyn), from gerund of bowl "wooden ball" (early 15c.), from Old French bole (13c., Modern French boule) "ball," ultimately from Latin bulla "bubble, knob, round thing" (see bull (n.2)).

Noon apprentice ... [shall] play ... at the Tenys, Closshe, Dise, Cardes, Bowles nor any other unlawfull game. [Act 11, Henry VII, 1495]
prowling(n.)

mid-15c., prollinge, "searching, seeking," verbal noun from prowl (v.).

prowler(n.)

1510s, proller, "one who prowls or roves, as seeking prey," agent noun from prowl (v.).

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    Trends of prowl

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    lurch
    "sudden pitch to one side," 1784, from earlier lee-larches (1765), a nautical term for "the sudden roll which a ship makes to lee-ward in a high sea, when a large wave strikes her, and bears her weather-side violently up, which depresses the other in proportion" ["Complete Dictio
    busk
    1660s (in a general sense of "to tack, to beat to windward"), apparently from obsolete French busquer "to shift, filch, prowl...," which is related to Italian buscare "to filch, prowl," Spanish buscar (from Old Spanish boscar), perhaps originally from...
    rave
    of madness or delirium, to rage in speech," from Old French raver, variant of resver "to dream; wander here and there, prowl...
    roam
    c. 1300, romen, "walk, go, walk about;" early 14c., "wander about, prowl," a word of obscure origin, possibly from Old English...
    loiter
    early 15c., "idle one's time, dawdle over work;" perhaps from or akin to Middle Dutch loteren "be loose or erratic, shake, totter" like a loose tooth or a sail in a storm; in modern Dutch, leuteren "to delay, linger, loiter over one's work," according to Watkins, literally "to ma
    tarry
    early 14c., tarien, "to delay in acting, procrastinate, retard" (transitive, a sense now obsolete), a word of uncertain origin. Some sources suggest a connection to Latin tardare "to delay." Others suggest some connection to the formally identical Middle English tarien "excite wr
    loaf
    late 13c., from Old English hlaf "a portion of bread baked in a mass of definite form," from Proto-Germanic *khlaibuz, the common Germanic word for "bread" (source also of Old Norse hleifr, Swedish lev, Old Frisian hlef, Old High German hleib, German Laib, Gothic hlaifs "bread, l
    churl
    Old English ceorl "peasant, one of the lowest class of freemen, man without rank," from Proto-Germanic *kerlaz, *karlaz (source also of Old Frisian zerl "man, fellow," Middle Low German kerle, Dutch kerel "freeman of low degree," German Kerl "man, husband," Old Norse karl "old ma
    walk
    "travel on foot," c. 1200, a merger of two verbs, 1. Old English wealcan "to toss, roll, move round" (past tense weolc, past participle wealcen), and 2. wealcian "to roll up, curl," from Proto-Germanic *welk- (source also of Old Norse valka "to drag about," Danish valke "to full"
    footle
    "to trifle," 1892, from dialectal footer "to trifle," footy "mean, paltry" (1752), perhaps from French se foutre "to care nothing," from Old French futer "to copulate with," from Latin futuere "have sex with (a woman)," originally "to strike, thrust" (which is perhaps from PIE ro

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    Dictionary entries near prowl
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