- scrutinize
- scrutinize: [17] The etymological notion underlying scrutinize is of ragpickers searching through piles of garbage looking for anything of use or value. For its ultimate source is Latin scrūta ‘rubbish’. From this was formed the verb scrūtārī ‘rummage through rubbish’, hence broadly ‘search, examine’. This in turn formed the basis of the noun scrūtinium, source of English scrutiny [15], from which scrutinize was derived.
- scrutinize (v.)
- 1670s, from scrutiny + -ize. Related: Scrutinized; scrutinizing. Earlier verb was scrutine (1590s), from French.