rummage
- to search thoroughly or actively through (a place, receptacle, etc.), especially by moving around, turning over, or looking through contents.
- to find, bring, or fetch by searching (often followed by out or up).
- to search actively, as in a place or receptacle or within oneself: She rummaged in her mind for the forgotten name.
- miscellaneous articles; odds and ends.
- a rummaging search.
Origin of rummage
Related Words for rummaging
comb, forage, poke, scour, jumble, spy, disturb, rake, disarray, grub, toss, seek, hunt, disorganize, explore, root, examine, shake, disorder, delveExamples from the Web for rummaging
Historical Examples of rummaging
There he handed out Ferry's document and went on rummaging for mine.
The CavalierGeorge Washington Cable
In a moment he was on his feet, rummaging the stage for the missing music.
MelomaniacsJames Huneker
She was rummaging for the soap and for an answer to his first remark.
In a Little TownRupert Hughes
We put in nearly a week rummaging through that moldy old barracks.
Shorty McCabeSewell Ford
A number of pigs and fowl were rummaging about the kitchen at will.
rummage
- (when intr , often foll by through) to search (through) while looking for something, often causing disorder or confusion
- an act of rummaging
- a jumble of articles
- obsolete confusion or bustle
Word Origin for rummage
Word Origin and History for rummaging
rummage
1540s, "arrange (cargo) in a ship," from rummage (n.), 1520s, "act of arranging cargo in a ship," a shortening of Middle French arrumage "arrangement of cargo," from arrumer "to stow goods in the hold of a ship," from a- "to" + rumer, probably from Germanic (cf. Old Norse rum "compartment in a ship," Old High German rum "space," Old English rum; see room (n.)). Or else from English room (n.) + -age.
Meaning "to search closely (the hold of a ship), especially by moving things about" first recorded 1610s. Related: Rummaged; rummaging. Rummage sale (1803) originally was a sale at docks of unclaimed goods.