rummage

Noun · Verb
Synonyms: ransacking

WordNet 3.0

Noun (2)

  1. a jumble of things to be given away
  2. a thorough search for something (often causing disorder or confusion)“he gave the attic a good rummage but couldn't find his skis”Synonyms: ransacking

Verb (1)

  1. search haphazardly“We rummaged through the drawers”
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Rummage \Rum"mage\ (?; 48), n. [For roomage, fr. room; hence originally, a making room, a packing away closely. See Room.]

1.(Naut.) A place or room for the stowage of cargo in a ship; also, the act of stowing cargo; the pulling and moving about of packages incident to close stowage; -- formerly written romage. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

2.A searching carefully by looking into every corner, and by turning things over. [1913 Webster]

He has made such a general rummage and reform in the office of matrimony.— Walpole.[1913 Webster]

Rummage sale, a clearance sale of unclaimed goods in a public store, or of odds and ends which have accumulated in a shop. --Simmonds. [1913 Webster]

Rummage \Rum"mage\, v. i. To search a place narrowly. [1913 Webster]

I have often rummaged for old books in Little Britain and Duck Lane. --Swift. [1913 Webster]

[His house] was haunted with a jolly ghost, that . . . . . . rummaged like a rat. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]

Rummage \Rum"mage\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rummaged; p. pr. & vb. n. Rummaging.]

1.(Naut.) To make room in, as a ship, for the cargo; to move about, as packages, ballast, so as to permit close stowage; to stow closely; to pack; -- formerly written roomage, and romage. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

They might bring away a great deal more than they do, if they would take pain in the romaging.— Hakluyt.[1913 Webster]

2.To search or examine thoroughly by looking into every corner, and turning over or removing goods or other things; to examine, as a book, carefully, turning over leaf after leaf. [1913 Webster]

He . . . searcheth his pockets, and taketh his keys, and so rummageth all his closets and trunks.— Howell.[1913 Webster]
What schoolboy of us has not rummaged his Greek dictionary in vain for a satisfactory account!— M. Arnold.[1913 Webster]
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