beachcombv.
/ˈbiːtʃkəʊm/, U.S. /ˈbitʃˌkoʊm/, Canadian English /ˈbiːtʃkoːm/ 1. intransitive. To engage in beachcombing or spend time as a beachcomber; to search the shore for valuable or interesting items that have washed up. Also transitive with it as object.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > make a search [verb (intransitive)] > search for things cast up by sea
wreck1843
beachcomb1878
1878 Philadelphia Inquirer 12 Feb. 8/5 This morning while some fishermen were on the beach beach-combing they found the legs and lower portions of a man.
1892 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Sentinel 27 May 8/1 I had run away from another ship and had ‘beach combed’ it (nautical parlance for tramp) until I got a chance in the Race Horse [sc. a ship].
1931 Observer 6 Sept. 6/5 Barney..beach-combed without success.
2014 Philadelphia Inquirer (Nexis) 25 Aug. b1 She and her husband..often beachcomb near their Cape May Point cottage looking for pieces to add to their vast collection.
2. transitive. Canadian. To salvage (lumber, esp. timber which has become detached from a log-boom) from the shore (see boom n.2 4a).
ΚΠ
1904 Hutchinson (Kansas) News 1 Dec. Stowler had ‘beach-combed’ sufficient lumber to make everything secure.
1975 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 13 Apr. 5/1 Bruce keeps himself busy beachcombing lumber.
1992 Harrowsmith Oct. 72/1 Their new one required four months' labour and $28,000 in building supplies, not including the logs Paul beachcombed and salvaged.
2007 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 27 July f8 For five dollars, anyone in B.C. could get a licence to beachcomb floating logs and sell them back to a logging consortium for 50 per cent of their market value.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2022).
<
v.1878