rummage
1
4.6
- noun
- /ˈrʌmɪdʒ/
- What are you looking for? asked Tenzing, watching Sir Edmund rummage in the snow.
- rummage through drawers
- rummage around
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Watch on YouTubeSo when I was writing this talk, I thought, right, I must go and have a rummage through the RI archives.
- So when I was writing this talk, I thought, right, I must go and have a rummage through the RI archives.
Examples
-
Rhea watched her rummage through the drawers, unveiling earrings with screw-on backs and cream-colored letters sealed with blobs of gold wax.
Fiction book (1996) -
Mama had money from our bank in New Orleans and from the rummage sale, but Aunt Dorothy insisted on buying me two dresses.
Fiction book (1990) -
A rummage through the Reverend's papers would probably put him to sleep in no time.
Fiction book (1992) -
So when I was writing this talk, I thought, right, I must go and have a rummage through the RI archives.
-
Although it was a private place, with an opening closed to the public, once inside you could do what you pleased: disrupt things, rummage, touch, and move.
Fiction book (1992) -
He stops, rummages in his case, and brings out a bottle of perfume.
Fiction book (2001) -
And if the Fort William museum turned up nothing, then a good rummage through the Reverend's archives was the logical, if ironic, next step.
Fiction book (1992) -
She sits up and catches sight of the rose, rummages in the drawer, and pulls out the tape with Catch's phone number on it.
Fiction book (2001) -
She puts on a pair of elbow-length turquoise rubber gloves and rummages through the shopping wagon.
Fiction book (2000) -
After a thorough rummage through the attic, they found their old toys covered in dust.
Synonyms
1
7.3
A complete search that makes a place very messy or damaged
1
4.6
A careful search of a place to find something lost
Compounds
How Thorough
1
4.6
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Etymology
Rummage comes from an old French verb like remuer meaning 'to stir' or 'move things'. That image of 'stirring' explains the noun sense: a rummage is a messy search that makes things move and look untidy as you look for something.