perscrutationn.
/ˌpəːskruːˈteɪʃn/, U.S. /pərˌskruˈteɪʃ(ə)n/ rare.
A thorough inquiry or investigation; careful scrutiny or examination.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > close examination, scrutiny > [noun] > instance of
perscrutation?a1425
perquisition1611
dissection1642
perreptation1656
critique1798
probe1903
check-up1921
close-up1923
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 176v Whi o medicyne may haue contrarie operacionz And o plante diuers in diuers parties, it nedeþ more perscrutacionz, i. seking [?c1425 Paris serchynge; L. perscrutatione].
1616 J. Lane Contin. Squire's Tale (Douce 170) (1888) i. x. 175 Mental perscrutation mowlded much thoughtes in his imagination.
1632 J. Florio tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. (ed. 3) i. xxii. 51 The first and universall reasons are of a hard perscrutation [1613 perscutation; Fr. perscrutation].
1678 R. Russel tr. Jabir ibn Haiyan Wks. Geber ii. i. i. iii. 27 Void of Ingenuity in every Perscrutation.
1792 T. Holcroft Anna St. Ives V. lxxxviii. 141 Nothing it had heard had any cogency of perscrutation... But, in fine, it would be clement, and consider.
1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present ii. viii. 106 Such guessing, visioning, dim perscrutation of the momentous future.
1936 ‘M. Innes’ Death at President's Lodging (1988) iii. 46 In any company of men minute perscrutation of act and motive may have the most miserable consequences.
1993 Union Leader (Manchester, New Hampsh.) (Nexis) 1 Aug. a1 After a careful perscrutation of the arguments of both parties the court finds that the $1,500 equity limit is arbitrary, capricious and ingravescent with the passage of time.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.?a1425