a fishing expedition

(mainly American)

an attempt to discover the facts about something by collecting a lot of information, often secretly The investigators' request for the company's accounts is simply a fishing expedition - they have no real evidence of wrongdoing.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Markus	MAHR-kuws (German), MAHR-koos (Finnish)	German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
Sargent	['sa:dʒənt]
BÉRenger	-	French
Arke	-	Frisian
Mubin	-	Arabic
Boyd	[bɔid]