peruse

present singular third person peruses · participle present perusing · participle past perused · past perused

1. transitiveTo examine or consider with care.

   Sitting on a low stool, a few yards from her arm-chair, I examined her figure; I perused her features.

   1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter IV, in Jane Eyre. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 58

2. transitiveTo read completely.

   This survey may be made by perusing al Books and taking notice of all Mechanicall Inventions.

   1647, William Petty, The Advice to Hartlib

   3 more examples

   And let not the incredulous reader pretend to doubt the truth of this phenomenon, until he ſhall have firſt peruſed the ingenious Peter Kolben’s Natural Hiſtory of the Cape of Good Hope, where the inhabitants commonly uſe to ſtrike fire with the ſhin-bones of lions which have been killed in that part of Africk.

   a. 1772, [Tobias] Smollett, “He Is Concerned in a Dangerous Adventure with a Certain Gardener; […]”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume I, London, published 1781, →OCLC, page 49, column 2

   We are for reasons that, after perusing this manuscript, you may be able to guess, going away again, this time to Central Asia […]

   1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “Introduction”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 4

   Not every German who bought a copy of Mein Kampf necessarily read it. […]But it might be argued that had more non-Nazi Germans read it before 1933 and had the foreign statesmen of the world perused it carefully while there still was time, both Germany and the world might have been saved from catastrophe.

   1960, William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Simon & Schuster, page 81

3. informaltransitiveTo look over casually; to skim.

   Haynes quickly perused the message, then took it to the captain on the bridge.

   2001, Doug Stanton, In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis, →ISBN, page 35

   2 more examples

   She asked Denise for the court file, which she fussed from her handbag. The woman perused it briefly and then beamed up at me.

   2005, Al Lovejoy, Acid Alex, →ISBN, page 98

   “I’m looking at the headlines and perusing around on the internet and I see that this guy came to your show and he brought a friendship bracelet and wants to meet you,” Swift’s mom said in the documentary.

   2026 July 4, Brittany Spanos, “Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce marry at New York City’s Madison Square Garden”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

4. intransitiveregionalTo go from place to place; to wander.

   I loved to straggle off in the mornings […], just perusing around for firewood.

   1957, Robert Ruark, The Old Man And The Boy, →ISBN, page 55

plural peruses

1. An examination or perusal; an instance of perusing.

   A peruse of the website looked promising […]

   2008 September 12, Dave Robson, “Hi-tea, low cost!”, in Evening Gazette