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
Cathie	['kæθi]
Bricius	-	Ancient Celtic (Latinized)
Callie	KAL-ee	English
Lanny	['læni]
Meint	MIENT	Dutch
Zoran	-	Croatian, Serbian, Slovene, Macedonian