Search Result for "rummage": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (2)

1. a jumble of things to be given away;

2. a thorough search for something (often causing disorder or confusion);
- Example: "he gave the attic a good rummage but couldn't find his skis"
[syn: ransacking, rummage]


VERB (1)

1. search haphazardly;
- Example: "We rummaged through the drawers"


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Rummage \Rum"mage\ (?; 48), n. [For roomage, fr. room; hence originally, a making room, a packing away closely. See Room.] 1. (Naut.) A place or room for the stowage of cargo in a ship; also, the act of stowing cargo; the pulling and moving about of packages incident to close stowage; -- formerly written romage. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] 2. A searching carefully by looking into every corner, and by turning things over. [1913 Webster] He has made such a general rummage and reform in the office of matrimony. --Walpole. [1913 Webster] Rummage sale, a clearance sale of unclaimed goods in a public store, or of odds and ends which have accumulated in a shop. --Simmonds. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Rummage \Rum"mage\, v. i. To search a place narrowly. [1913 Webster] I have often rummaged for old books in Little Britain and Duck Lane. --Swift. [1913 Webster] [His house] was haunted with a jolly ghost, that . . . . . . rummaged like a rat. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Rummage \Rum"mage\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rummaged; p. pr. & vb. n. Rummaging.] 1. (Naut.) To make room in, as a ship, for the cargo; to move about, as packages, ballast, so as to permit close stowage; to stow closely; to pack; -- formerly written roomage, and romage. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] They might bring away a great deal more than they do, if they would take pain in the romaging. --Hakluyt. [1913 Webster] 2. To search or examine thoroughly by looking into every corner, and turning over or removing goods or other things; to examine, as a book, carefully, turning over leaf after leaf. [1913 Webster] He . . . searcheth his pockets, and taketh his keys, and so rummageth all his closets and trunks. --Howell. [1913 Webster] What schoolboy of us has not rummaged his Greek dictionary in vain for a satisfactory account! --M. Arnold. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

rummage n 1: a jumble of things to be given away 2: a thorough search for something (often causing disorder or confusion); "he gave the attic a good rummage but couldn't find his skis" [syn: ransacking, rummage] v 1: search haphazardly; "We rummaged through the drawers"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

65 Moby Thesaurus words for "rummage": beat, comb, conglomeration, disarrange, disarray, discompose, disorganize, disrupt, disturb, domiciliary visit, dragnet, examine, exploration, forage, frisk, hash, hotchpotch, house-search, hunt, hunting, jumble, jungle, litter, look all over, look everywhere, look through, mash, mess up, miscellanea, miscellany, mishmash, mix up, muddle, odds and ends, patchwork, perquisition, poke, posse, potpourri, probe, quest, rake, ransack, ransacking, rifle, scour, scrabble, scramble, scrounge, search, search high heaven, search party, search warrant, search-and-destroy operation, searching, shake, shake down, stalk, stalking, still hunt, toss, tumble, turn inside out, turn upside down, turning over