patdown

See also: pat down

English

Etymology

Deverbal from pat down.

Noun

patdown (plural patdowns)

1. (US, informal) An act of patting somebody's clothes to check for concealed weapons, etc.

   Synonyms: frisk, frisking

   • 2006, Yoram Wind, Colin Crook, Robert E. Gunther, The power of impossible thinking:

     To avoid such charges, airline screeners moved to random processes that led to patdowns of congressional representatives and mild-mannered elderly women...

Alternative forms

• pat-down

Translations

patting somebody's clothes

• French: fouille corporelle f, fouille à corps f, (less thoroughly) palpation de sécurité f

Anagrams

• down pat