ransack
verb (used with object)
to search thoroughly or vigorously through (a house, receptacle, etc.).
had been ransacking
-
past perfect progressiveof ransack.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
All night he had been ransacking his desk for his notes on the British monarch of legend, notes hurriedly copied from a hundred-page survey of British history that he had once read in paperback.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Wherever they had been ransacking, as yet they had not attacked my father's house; it stood up on the other side the road—barred, black, silent.
From John Halifax, Gentleman by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
No, I haven't seen any one, except old Thomas, who looked for all the world as if he had been ransacking the pantry.
From The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Then she felt certain: there was nothing missing, yet she was convinced that someone had been ransacking her belongings pretty thoroughly.
From Juggernaut by Alice Campbell
For more than a month I had been ransacking my memory in search of some story or narrative to offer our readers, but with rather poor success.
From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 3, March, 1862 by Various
