palpate

There was no weight, no feeling of a source or origin or cause, nothing to palpate.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 11, 2019

Clayton: Yes, you palpate, exactly, you get a heart rate, you listen to the heart, you listen for the gut sounds depending on what species you’re working with.

From Slate ● May 31, 2017

On race day, track veterinarians palpate every horse with their hands, watch them jog in search of abnormalities in gait and determine their fitness to race.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 13, 2016

You can easily palpate, or feel with your fingers, the entire length of your clavicle.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

Sounding the esophagus with bougies to determine the level of the obstruction, or to palpate the nature of the foreign body, is unnecessary and dangerous.

From Bronchoscopy and Esophagoscopy A Manual of Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery by Chevalier Jackson

“Monster” turns out to be but one of several words the author carefully palpates, finding it “male, testicular, old world. It’s a hairy word, and has teeth.”

From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2023

He prods and palpates patients head to toe, searching for tiny tears where muscles attach to bone.

From Time Magazine Archive

Much depends on the sensitiveness of the fingers of him who palpates, and much upon the relation of the palpated artery to the surrounding, chiefly underlying, structures.

From Arteriosclerosis and Hypertension: with Chapters on Blood Pressure, 3rd Edition. by Louis Marshall Warfield

She palpated the lymph nodes under his neck and arms, down his torso, and checked his scars for healing, while the three of us waited for the scan images to appear on her computer.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 3, 2021

They aggressively palpated my uterus—which involves getting hold of it and squeezing it, basically.

From Slate ● Aug. 27, 2020

They probed and palpated 130 local people, measured height and weight, and came home with a lot of blood.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 25, 2018

McCar­thy reached across the table and palpated Schoninger’s arm.

From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2016

“When asked why she knew it, she said that she felt as if there were a lump there. I do not quite know what she means by this, unless she actually palpated this area.”

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

For centuries, doctors have used their hands as essential diagnostic tools -- exploring joints and palpating abdomens to assess a patient's health.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 1, 2024

He was gently palpating my foot to see what points made me yelp, while introducing the topic of gratitude into the conversation.

From New York Times ● Sep. 9, 2021

But hadn’t a snoozing Archie been on our couch plenty of times before, a stress-relieving lump of warm fur, perfect for mindless palpating?

From Washington Post ● Jan. 31, 2021

Didn't I just touch my face at the supermarket after palpating the avocados?

From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2020

By gently palpating with the finger-tips over the softened area, a fluid wave may be detected—fluctuation—and when present this is a certain indication of the existence of fluid in the swelling.

From Manual of Surgery Volume First: General Surgery. Sixth Edition. by Alexis Thomson