Verb

(head)

(ransack)

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

(head)

(rummage)

Verb

(rummag)

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

(nautical) To search a vessel for smuggled goods.

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

* Howell

Hesearcheth his pockets, and taketh his keys, and so rummageth all his closets and trunks.

* (Matthew Arnold) (1822-1888)

What schoolboy of us has not rummaged his Greek dictionary in vain for a satisfactory account!

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), author=Lexington

, title= Keeping the mighty honest , passage=British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.}}

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

* , chapter=8

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Philander went into the next room