RUMMAGE

ransacking, rummage

(noun) a thorough search for something (often causing disorder or confusion); “he gave the attic a good rummage but couldn’t find his skis”

rummage

(noun) a jumble of things to be given away

rummage

(verb) search haphazardly; “We rummaged through the drawers”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

rummage (third-person singular simple present rummages, present participle rummaging, simple past and past participle rummaged)

(transitive, nautical) To arrange (cargo, goods, etc.) in the hold of a ship; to move or rearrange such goods.

(transitive, nautical) To search a vessel for smuggled goods.

(transitive) To search something thoroughly and with disregard for the way in which things were arranged.

(intransitive) To hastily search for something in a confined space and among many items by carelessly turning things over or pushing things aside.

Noun

rummage (plural rummages)

(obsolete) Commotion; disturbance.

A thorough search, usually resulting in disorder.

An unorganized collection of miscellaneous objects; a jumble.

(nautical) 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.

Proper noun

Rummage

A surname.

Source: Wiktionary

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

1. (Naut.)

Definition: 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.]

2. A searching carefully by looking into every corner, and by turning things over. He has such a general rummage and reform in the office of matrimony. Walpole. Rummage sale, a clearance sale of unclaimed goods in a public store, or of odds and ends which have accumulated in a shop. Simmonds.

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

1. (Naut.)

Definition: 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.] They night bring away a great deal more than they do, if they would take pain in the romaging. Hakluyt.

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

Rum"mage, v. i.

Definition: To search a place narrowly. I have often rummaged for old books in Little Britain and Duck Lane. Swift. [His house] was haunted with a jolly ghost, that . . . . . . rummaged like a rat. Tennyson.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition