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.

• join up
• joker in the pack
• joke's on
• joke's on someone
• judgment call
• juggling act
• juice up
• juice up something
• jump all over
• jump all over someone
• jump at
• jump at something
• jump bail
• jump down someone's throat
• jump down throat
• jump for joy
• jump in
• jump in at the deep end
• jump in with both feet
• jump on the bandwagon
• jump out of the frying pan and into the fire
• jump out of the frying pan into the fire
• jump ship
• jump the gun
• jump the queue