Rummage /(?; 48)/
Rum·mage
Rummage
n.
- 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. (Naut.) [Obs.]
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A searching carefully by looking into every corner, and by turning things over.
He has made such a general rummage and reform in the office of matrimony.
Phrases & Compounds
- Rummage sale
- a clearance sale of unclaimed goods in a public store, or of odds and ends which have accumulated in a shop.
Rummage
v. t.
imp. & p. p. Rummaged; p. pr. & vb. n. Rummaging
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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. (Naut.) [Obs.]
They might bring away a great deal more than they do, if they would take pain in the romaging.
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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.
He . . . searcheth his pockets, and taketh his keys, and so rummageth all his closets and trunks.
What schoolboy of us has not rummaged his Greek dictionary in vain for a satisfactory account!
Rummage
v. i.
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To search a place narrowly.
I have often rummaged for old books in Little Britain and Duck Lane.
[His house] was haunted with a jolly ghost, that . . . . . . rummaged like a rat.