ransack
verb (used with object)
to search thoroughly or vigorously through (a house, receptacle, etc.).
were ransacking
-
past progressiveof ransack.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
Within a few years, Parisian poets and painters were ransacking Japanese packing cases as though the crumpled prints inside were an accidental answer to an occidental prayer.
From Time Magazine Archive
Confederations of mounted nomads from the steppes were ransacking China's northern flank while to the South, Chinese aristocrats tangled with one another.
From Time Magazine Archive
There were angry people who had lost their portmanteaus, and were ransacking the state-rooms in quest of them, and indolent people who lay on the sofas reading novels and chewing tobacco.
From The Englishwoman in America by Isabella L. (Isabella Lucy) Bird
His friend the poet Kind was with him, and they were ransacking an old book, Apel's "Ghost Stories."
From The Great German Composers by George T. (George Titus) Ferris
M. de Bellegarde stood for a moment looking on the ground, as if he were ransacking his ingenuity to see what else he could do to save his father's reputation.
From The American by Henry James
