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   Rum·mage

   /ˈrəməj/

   

   verb

   • 1. search unsystematically and untidily through a mass or receptacle: "he rummaged in his pocket for a handkerchief"
   • ▪ find (something) by rummaging: "Mick rummaged up his skateboard"
   • ▪ (of a customs officer) make a thorough search of (a vessel): "our brief was to rummage as many of the vessels as possible"

   noun

   • 1. an unsystematic and untidy search through a mass or receptacle: "open up the box and have a rummage around"
   • ▪ a thorough search of a vessel by a customs officer: "a rummage of the vessel revealed eighty cases of cigars"

   Word Origin late 15th century: from Old French arrumage, from arrumer ‘stow (in a hold)’, from Middle Dutch ruim ‘room’. In early use the word referred to the arranging of items such as casks in the hold of a ship, giving rise (early 17th century) to the verb sense ‘make a search of (a vessel’).

   Derivatives

   • 1. rummager noun

   Scrabble Points: 12

   • R

     1

   • U

     1

   • M

     3

   • M

     3

   • A

     1

   • G

     2

   • E

     1

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