patdown

Deverbal from pat down.

patdown (plural patdowns)

1. An act of patting somebody's clothes to check for concealed weapons, etc.

   Synonyms: frisk, frisking

   • 2006, Yoram Wind, Colin Crook, Robert E. Gunther, The power of impossible thinking:

     To avoid such charges, airline screeners moved to random processes that led to patdowns of congressional representatives and mild-mannered elderly women...

• down pat