rummage

English

Etymology

From Old French arrumage (confer French arrimage), from arrumer (“to arrange the cargo in the hold”) (confer French arrimer and Spanish arrumar).

Pronunciation

(UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹʌm.ɪd͡ʒ/
audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ʌmɪd͡ʒ

Verb

rummage (third-person singular simple present rummages, present participle rummaging, simple past and past participle rummaged)

(transitive, nautical) To arrange (cargo, goods, etc.) in the hold of a ship; to move or rearrange such goods.
(transitive, nautical) To search a vessel for smuggled goods.
After the long voyage, the customs officers rummaged the ship.
(transitive) To search something thoroughly and with disregard for the way in which things were arranged.
She rummaged her purse in search of the keys.
The burglars rummaged the entire house for cash and jewellery.
- 1655, James Howell, “To the Rt. Hon. the Lord Mohun”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], volume (please specify the page), 3rd edition, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], OCLC 84295516:
  He […] searcheth his pockets, and taketh his keys, and so rummageth all his closets and trunks.
- 1866, Matthew Arnold, The Study of Celtic Literature
  What schoolboy of us has not rummaged his Greek dictionary in vain for a satisfactory account!
- 2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
  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.
1. (intransitive) To hastily search for something in a confined space and among many items by carelessly turning things over or pushing things aside.
  She rummaged in the drawers trying to find the missing sock.
  - 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 8, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
    Philander went into the next room […] and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack.

Translations

to search something which contains many items

Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Aromanian: gurnjescu
Bulgarian: претърсвам (bg) (pretǎrsvam)
Catalan: furgar (ca), remenar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 翻尋／翻寻 (zh) (fānxún)
Cimbrian: büulan
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: penkoa (fi)
French: fouiller (fr)
Galician: cachear (gl), remexer
German: durchwühlen (de)
Greek: σκαλίζω (el) (skalízo)
Hebrew: חיטט‎ (khitét)
Irish: tiomsaigh
Italian: frugare (it), rovistare (it)
Japanese: 漁る (ja) (あさる, asaru), 引っ掻き回す (ひっかきまわす, hikkamawasu)
Korean: please add this translation if you can
Maori: paraketu, hurahura
Northern Sami: boltut
Norwegian: gjennomsøke
Portuguese: vasculhar (pt)
Romanian: scotoci (ro), cotrobăi (ro)
Russian: ры́ться (ru) impf (rýtʹsja), копа́ться (ru) impf (kopátʹsja)
Spanish: revolver (es)
Swedish: rota (sv)
Tagalog: halughog
Thai: คุ้ย (th) (kúi), ค้น (th) (kón)
Turkish: please add this translation if you can

to search something thoroughly and with disregard

Bulgarian: тършувам (bg) (tǎršuvam)
Finnish: penkoa (fi), myllätä (fi)
French: fouiller (fr)
German: durchwühlen (de)
Italian: rivoltare (it), scuriosare, buttare all'aria
Korean: 뒤지다 (ko) (dwijida), 헤집다 (hejipda)
Norwegian: endevende (no)
Portuguese: revolver (pt), esgravatar (pt), vasculhar (pt), revirar
Russian: обы́скивать (ru) impf (obýskivatʹ), обша́ривать (ru) impf (obšárivatʹ)
Spanish: revolver (es)
Swedish: rota (sv)
Tagalog: halughog

to hastily search for

Bulgarian: ровя (bg) (rovja)
Finnish: penkoa (fi)
French: fouiller (fr)
German: wühlen (de), stöbern (de)
Italian: rovistare (it), frugare (it), spulciare, armeggiare (it)
Norwegian: grovsøke
Bokmål: rote rundt i, omkalfatre (no)
Portuguese: fuçar (pt)
Russian: ры́ться (ru) impf (rýtʹsja), копа́ться (ru) impf (kopátʹsja)
Tagalog: halughog

Noun

rummage (countable and uncountable, plural rummages)

A thorough search, usually resulting in disorder.
Have a rummage through the attic and see if you can find anything worth selling.
- May 24, 1753, Horace Walpole, letter to the Hon. H. S. Conway
  He has made such a general rummage and reform in the office of matrimony.
(obsolete) Commotion; disturbance.
A disorganized collection of miscellaneous objects; a jumble.
(nautical) A place or room for the stowage of cargo in a ship.
(nautical) The act of stowing cargo; the pulling and moving about of packages incident to close stowage.
Synonym: (obsolete) romage