RUMMAGE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Rummage

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/rˈəmɪdʒ/ Listen

verb

Rummage v. t. (past & past part. rummaged; pres. part. rummaging)

(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.) "They might bring away a great deal more than they do, if they would take pain in the romaging."

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. 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."

noun

Rummage n.

(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.)

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."

Rummage sale, a clearance sale of unclaimed goods in a public store, or of odds and ends which have accumulated in a shop.

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Etymology of 'Rummage'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Rummage" Quotes from Famous Books

... a bit of corn bread! Try, my old cock, and rummage up a crust or two, for hung beef is devilish tight work for the teeth, without a little bread of some ...

— The Canadian Brothers - or The Prophecy Fulfilled • John Richardson

... great field of astronomy that is discouraging to the savant who hasn't the time nor means to rummage around through the heavens. At times I am almost hopeless, and feel like saying to the great yearnful, hungry world: "Grope on forever. Do not ask me for another scientific fact. Find it out yourself. Hunt up your own new-laid planets, and let me have a rest. Never ask me again ...

— Remarks • Bill Nye

... go and have a good rummage, she'll bear it, and you jot down in your log-book anything you see that you'd like to draw attention to. Call any of the men to move or ...

— Jack at Sea - All Work and no Play made him a Dull Boy • George Manville Fenn

... and this, I can see that I was unable to consider the scene before me with a calm and unprejudiced mind. I am now satisfied that the sudden birth and hasty decease of my sympathy with Toddie were striking instances of human inconsistency. My soul had gone out to his because he loved to rummage in trunks, and because I imagined he loved to see the monument of incongruous material which resulted from such an operation; the scene before me showed clearly that I had rightly divined my nephew's ...

— Helen's Babies • John Habberton

... lengthened rummage in a voluminous pocket, and the production of several articles irrelevant to the occasion—a thimble, a bit of ginger, and part of a tract—Mrs Gray brought to light a piece of paper, on which was written the ...

— Zoe • Evelyn Whitaker

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