leaf through

Idioms and Phrases

Turn pages, as in browsing or searching for something. For example, There she sat, leafing through the various catalogs . This expression employs leaf in the sense of “turn over the leaves of a book,” a usage dating from the mid-1600s.

Related Words

• browse
• check
• examine
• flash
• flip through
• look through
• scour
• search
• skim
• thumb through