rummage
pronunciation
How to pronounce rummage in British English:
UK [ˈrʌmɪdʒ]
How to pronounce rummage in American English:
US [ˈrʌmɪdʒ]
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- Noun:
- a jumble of things to be given away
- a thorough search for something (often causing disorder or confusion)
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- Verb:
- search haphazardly
Word Origin
- rummage
- rummage: [16] Rummage is etymologically ‘roomage’. It originally denoted the ‘stowage of cargo in a ship’s hold’. It came from Anglo- Norman *rumage, a reduced form of Old French arrumage. This was derived from the verb arrumer ‘stow in a hold’, which itself was based on run ‘ship’s hold’. And this in turn was borrowed from Middle Dutch ruim ‘space’, a relative of English room. The verb rummage, derived from the noun, was also used for ‘search a ship’s hold’, which is where the modern notion of ‘rummaging around’ comes from.=> room
- rummage (v.)
- 1540s, "arrange (cargo) in a ship," from rummage (n.), 1520s, "act of arranging cargo in a ship," a shortening of Middle French arrumage "arrangement of cargo," from arrumer "to stow goods in the hold of a ship," from a- "to" + rumer, probably from Germanic (compare Old Norse rum "compartment in a ship," Old High German rum "space," Old English rum; see room (n.)). Or else from English room (n.) + -age. Meaning "to search closely (the hold of a ship), especially by moving things about" first recorded 1610s. Related: Rummaged; rummaging. Rummage sale (1803) originally was a sale at docks of unclaimed goods.
Example
- 1. A few will rummage in their pockets and pull out a few coins , knowing it may not be much but at least I did something .
- 2. She gave a good rummage around her basement but couldn 't find her radio anywhere .
- 3. Rummage sales and church bazaars .
- 4. Lord , the house look a like a rummage sale , yes .
- 5. Whenever he came home from a trip , I 'd rush to open this little suitcase and rummage through his things , savoring the scent of cologne and foreign countries .