From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishprowlprowl1 /praʊl/ verb [intransitive, transitive] 1 HBAif an animal prowls, it moves around an area quietly, especially because it is hunting another animal2 SCCWALKif someone prowls, they move around an area slowly and quietly, especially because they are involved in a criminal activity or because they are looking for something gangs of teenagers prowling the streetsprowl around/about British English Irene prowled restlessly around the room.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
prowl• It was rather a free feeling, he noticed, prowling about the house at such an odd hour.• She had to steal out of the house before it started prowling again.• The babysitter said she could hear someone prowling around in the garden.• Along a side street there prowled, one recent morning, a spanking white Rolls-Royce.• Several wolves prowled round the camp, but were kept at bay by the fire.• Dreamy, deft and economical, it was born to prowl the airwaves.• Men prowled the motel like packs of wolves searching out easy prey.• Officer Watson prowls the streets at night, looking for drug dealers.• Able-bodied youngsters were prowling the streets in droves.• Police have warned the public that the killer may still be prowling the streets.prowl around/about• The Plot One day a cat was outside prowling around.• There was nothing to do but read, but it was impossible to read for long with Aunt Emily prowling about.• But one afternoon Ellen was prowling around in his basement and found his thought-drawer.• Suddenly the penny dropped, and Meredith knew why he'd been prowling about the airport like an angry lion.• Under Dauntless's watchful eye, Cleo prowled around the attic, exploring.• It was rather a free feeling, he noticed, prowling about the house at such an odd hour.• She could hear him prowling around the kitchen and when she went down he was looking through her manuscripts.• Oops, I was prowling around the wrong house.prowlprowl2 noun → be/go on the prowl (for something/somebody)Examples from the Corpus
prowl• Dada had disappeared on some sort of little prowl of his own.• Four victims so far and three fortuitous, but he's probably been on the prowl for three years or more.• Moving with the sureness of a cat on the prowl, he flitted back through the hold and outside.• I find Rainbow in her taxi, on the prowl.• She always warned him, in whispered anxious tones, whenever the Bogeyman was on the prowl.• At the County Ground, the wolves were on the prowl right from the word go. 