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Grovel

/grä-vᵊl/

vi. 1. To work interminably and without apparent progress. Often used transitively with 'over' or 'through'.

"The file scavenger has been groveling through the file directories for 10 minutes now."

Compare grind and crunch. Emphatic form: 'grovel obscenely'.

2. To examine minutely or in complete detail.

"The compiler grovels over the entire source program before beginning to translate it."

"I grovelled through all the documentation, but I still couldn't find the command I wanted."