rum·mage /ˈrʌmɪʤ/
 (vt.)(vi.)到處翻尋,搜出,檢查翻箱倒櫃的尋找,檢查,碎屑


 Rum·mage, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rummaged p. pr. & vb. n. Rummaging ]
 1. 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.   --Hakluyt.
 2. 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.   --Howell.
    What schoolboy of us has not rummaged his Greek dictionary in vain for a satisfactory account!   --M. Arnold.


 Rum·mage n.
 1. 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.]
 2. 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.   --Walpole.
 Rummage sale, a clearance sale of unclaimed goods in a public store, or of odds and ends which have accumulated in a shop.


 Rum·mage, v. i. To search a place narrowly.
    I have often rummaged for old books in Little Britain and Duck Lane.   --Swift.
 [His house] was haunted with a jolly ghost, that . . .
 . . . rummaged like a rat.   --Tennyson.

 ◄ ►


 rummage
      n 1: a jumble of things to be given away
      2: a thorough search for something (often causing disorder or
         confusion); "he gave the attic a good rummage but couldn't
         find his skis" [syn: ransacking]
      v : search haphazardly; "We rummaged through the drawers"