An Investigation; search; interrogating.In trial practice. The examination of a witness consists of the series of questions putto him by a party to the action, or his counsel, for the purpose of bringing before thecourt and jury in legal form the knowledge which the witness has of the facts and mattersin dispute, or of probing and sifting his evidence previously given.In criminal practice. An investigation by a magistrate of a person who has beencharged with crime and arrested, or of the facts aud circumstances which are alleged tohave attended the crime and to fasten suspicion upon the party so charged, in order toascertain whether there is sufficient ground to hold him to bail for his trial by the propercourt. U. S. v. Stanton, 70 Fed. 890, 17 C. C. A. 475; State v. Conrad, 95 N. C. 009.