Verb

(en verb)

(label) To loot or pillage. See also sack .

*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

*:Their vow is made / To ransack Troy.

(label) To make a vigorous and thorough search of (a place, person) with a view to stealing something, especially when leaving behind a state of disarray.

:

*(Robert South) (1634–1716)

*:to ransack every corner of theirhearts

(label) To examine carefully; to investigate.

*:

*:Thenne came there an olde monke whiche somtyme had ben a knyghte & behelde syre Melyas / And anone he ransakyd hym / & thenne he saide vnto syr Galahad I shal hele hym of this wo?de by the grace of god within the terme of seuen wekes

To violate; to ravish; to deflower.

*(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)

*:Rich spoil of ransacked chastity.

Verb

(en verb)

To move about in roving fashion looking for plunder.

a marauding band

* {{quote-book

, year= 1684 , year_published= 1728 , author= (Thomas Otway) , by= , title= The Works of Mr. Thomas Otway , url= http://books.google.com/books?id=tA4UAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA88 , original= , chapter= , section= The Atheist; or the Second Part of the Soldier's Fortune , isbn= , edition= , publisher= Richard, James, and Bethel Wellington , location= London , editor= , volume= 2 , page= 88 , passage= Peace Plunder , Peace, you Rogue; no Moroding now i we'll burn, rob, demolish and murder another time together : This is a Bus'ness must be done with decency. }}

* {{quote-book

, year= 1711 , year_published= 1721 , author= (Joseph Addison) , by= , title= The Spectator, no. 90-505 , url= http://books.google.com/books?id=jAszAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA115 , original= , chapter= , section= , isbn= , edition= , publisher= Thomas Tickell , location= London , editor= , volume= 3 , page= 115 , passage= in one of which they met with a party of French that had been marauding , and made them all prisoners at discretion. }}

To go about aggressively or in a predatory manner.

* {{quote-book

, year= 1770 , year_published= , author= , by= , title= The Critical Review: Or, Annals of Literature , url= http://books.google.com/books?id=4FrQAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA73 , original= , chapter= Fables for Grown Gentlemen , section= , isbn= , edition= , publisher= A. Hamilton , location= London , editor= Tobias George Smollett , volume= 29 , page= 73 , passage= A flea out of a blanket shaken, A bloody-minded sinner, Upon a taylor's neck was taken, Marauding for a dinner. }}

To raid and pillage.

* {{quote-book

, year= 1829 , year_published= , author= (Washington Irving) , by= , title= A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada: In Two Volumes , url= http://books.google.com/books?id=hylOAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA118 , original= , chapter= , section= , isbn= , edition= , publisher= Baudry, at the Foreign Library , location= Paris , editor= , volume= 1 , page= 118-9 , passage= As the tract of country they intended to maraud was far in the Moorish territories near the coast of the Mediterranean, they did not arrive until late in the following day. }}