patrol
v.v. to move around an area regularly to make sure it is safe and there is no trouble. You usually see police or soldiers doing this.
v. to traverse a specific area or beat at regular intervals for the purpose of maintaining security and order. Often used in military or law enforcement contexts.
The guards patrol the building every hour.
Soldiers continue to patrol the border to prevent any unauthorized crossings during the night.
While the local police regularly patrol the residential districts, the sheer size of the industrial park makes it difficult to monitor every warehouse with the same frequency.
From French patrouille, from Old French patrouille, patouille (“a night-watch”, literally “a tramping about”), from patrouiller, patouiller, patoiller (“to paddle or pudder in water, dabble with the feet, begrime, besmear”), from patte, pate (“paw, foot of an animal”), from Vulgar Latin patta (“paw, foot”), from Frankish patta (“paw, sole of the foot”), from Proto-Germanic paþjaną, paþōną (“to walk, tread, go, step, pace”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European (s)pent-, (s)pat- (“path; to walk”), a variant of Proto-Indo-European pent-, pat- (“path; to go”); see find. Cognate with Dutch pad, patte (“paw”), Low German pedden (“to step, tread”), German patschen (“to splash, smack, dabble, waddle”), German Patsche (“a swatter, beater, paw, puddle, mire”). Related to pad, path.
From French patrouiller, from Old French patrouiller (“to paddle, paw about, patrol”), from patte (“a paw”).
The verb is both transitive and intransitive; it can take a direct object or stand alone.
The guards patrol for the building.The guards patrol the building.'Patrol' is a transitive verb that takes a direct object (the place being patrolled) without a preposition.