different between ransack vs rummage

English

Etymology

From Middle English ransaken, from Old Norse rannsaka, from rann (“house”) + saka (“search”); probably influenced by sack.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ænsæk/
• Homophone: RANSAC

Verb

ransack (third-person singular simple present ransacks, present participle ransacking, simple past and past participle ransacked)

1. (transitive) To loot or pillage. See also sack.
2. (transitive) 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.

   • to ransack every corner of their […] hearts

3. (archaic) To examine carefully; to investigate.
4. To violate; to ravish; to deflower.

Translations

Noun

ransack (plural ransacks)

1. Eager search.
   • 1861, The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art

     Perhaps this stone also will turn up in the ransack of the sultan's treasury.

Anagrams

• rackans

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): /???m.?d?/

Verb

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

1. (transitive, nautical) To arrange (cargo, goods, etc.) in the hold of a ship; to move or rearrange such goods.
2. (transitive, nautical) To search a vessel for smuggled goods.

3. (transitive) To search something thoroughly and with disregard for the way in which things were arranged.
   • 30 August, 1632, James Howell, "To the Rt. Hon. the Lord Mohun" in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ

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

Translations

Noun

rummage (countable and uncountable, plural rummages)

1. 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.

2. (obsolete) Commotion; disturbance.
3. A disorganized collection of miscellaneous objects; a jumble.
4. (nautical) A place or room for the stowage of cargo in a ship.
5. (nautical) The act of stowing cargo; the pulling and moving about of packages incident to close stowage.

   Synonym: (obsolete) romage

Related terms

• look
• quarry
• rake
• search

See also

• rummage sale