yes, I don't think any major search engines are providing search API now. You can try some small scale ones, but results will not be good.
Meta search engines are engines which use meta tags of webpages to do their analysis of webpages. Meta tags are not visible to regular site visitors, so webmasters generally stuff them with keywords. Engines that depend on these give worst results.
Why would major search engines give them their data? Major search engines invested billions trying to make their results better.
Hi Andrew, I work for Codefuel, the preferred global search monetization partner of Bing and Yahoo. Depending on your product, I might be able to help you with a direct search feed from either Yahoo, Bing or Yandex. Drop me a message or look me up on Skype to discuss the possibilities: live:133934eb755f26d9 Thanks Marcel
Doubt what? Plenty of people get direct search feeds. As long as you have good quality traffic we will be happy to help you monetize it.