probe
Pronunciation: /pɹəʊb/
The English word “probe” has 12 meanings listed here.
noun
- Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.
- An anal probe, a fictional instrument commonly used by aliens on abducted humans.
- Something which penetrates something else, as though to explore; something which obtains information.
- An act of probing; a prod, a poke.
- An investigation or inquiry.
- A tube attached to an aircraft which can be fitted into the drogue from a tanker aircraft to allow for aerial refuelling.
- A small device, especially an electrode, used to explore, investigate or measure something by penetrating or being placed in it.
- A small, usually uncrewed, spacecraft used to acquire information or measurements about its surroundings.
- A move with multiple possible answers, seeking to make the opponent choose and commit to a strategy.
- Any group of atoms or molecules radioactively labeled in order to study a given molecule or other structure
verb
Etymology
For verb: borrowed from Latin probare (“to test, examine, prove”), from probus (“good”). Doublet of prove. For noun: borrowed from Late Latin proba (“a proof”), from probare (“to test, examine, prove”); Doublet of proof. Compare Spanish tienta (“a surgeon's probe”), from tentar (“try, test”); see tempt.
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.