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Glite Dictionary
🛃 A body search 🛃 To search clothes 🤲 To press gently
to pat-down

to pat-down

1 6.0
To search someone by touching their clothes to find hidden items
  • phrasal verb
  • /pæt daʊn/
translation icon : cachear
  • The security officer will pat down every person entering the courthouse to ensure no weapons are brought inside.

Examples

  • Before allowing him on the bus, they had to pat down the passenger for any hidden items.

  • All right, dude, let's go ahead and pat down Ben for a gun.

  • So as I went to go pat down, this teenager I'll never forget, the kid pushed me and took off and ran.

  • If a child is wearing bulky clothing, then the child needs to be pat down, just like anyone else does.

    Blog text (9)

  • But to then pat down and search a 2 or 4 or 6-year-old Tom Smith is just plain stupid.

    Blog text (9)

  • The screeners do not want to pat down an 8-year-old.

    Blog text (9)

  • Then the TSA is subjected to continual and constant changes in procedures regarding passenger and baggage screening and how to "pat down" passengers without violating their civil rights while attempting to find items that could be used to detonate bombs onboard aviation aircraft.

    Blog text (25)

  • To maintain safety, the staff had to pat down each attendee at the event for dangerous objects.

Synonyms

frisk
vsto pat-down
  • NSFW
9 7.5

A quick check of a person's clothes for hidden weapons or drugs

uses a specific patting method to check mainly for hidden weapons

How Thorough

to strip-search
  • NSFW
14 6.8
to search
∞ 1.0
to pat-down
1 6.0
to check
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

pat-down infinitive
pat-downed past
pat-downed past participle
patting down present participle
pat-downs third person singular

Morphology

pat-down = pat + down (transparent) = pat + down

The verb is a productive phrasal verb formed from 'pat' + particle 'down'; the meaning 'search by patting' is a straightforward extension of patting in a downward/over-surface manner.

Etymology

Pat-down as a verb comes from the words pat and down. A pat is a light touch and down means moving 'from top to bottom', so to pat-down someone is to search them by lightly patting their clothes to find hidden items.