to explore / to search out / to scout / to visit / to stretch forward
探
=
扌
+
冖
+
八
+
木
:
Tecumseh (t) lost an eight-ball (八) during the last billiard game and goes scouting (探) to find it. Eventually he arrives at the anthill's bathroom (an4) and looks under a big Christmas tree (木). He lifts a cooking top (冖) with a toy claw (扌) and finally finds the eight-ball under it.
探
=
扌
+
罙
:
Tecumseh (t) is exploring (探) the chimney of a kitchen range (罙) in the anthill's bathroom (an4). He uses two toy claws (扌) to climb inside of it from bottom to top.
after all / to investigate / to study carefully / Taiwan pr. [jiu4]
究
=
九
+
穴
:
Joan of Arc (ji) is carefully studying (究) cave paintings (穴) that have appeared over night in front of the outhouse (ou1) using mass spectrometry. She carves off a little of the paintings and puts them in the mass spectrometer. As it emits a huge cloud nine (九), the spectrometer shows on the display that the main component is love.