rummage

verb
- to search thoroughly by handling, turning over, or disarranging the contents
- to discover by searching thoroughly

noun
- a thorough search among a number of things
- a confusion of miscellaneous articles

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

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WORD ORIGIN

Rummage (circa 1526) stems from the French "romage," the act of arranging cargo in a ship. Romage is a short form of the Middle French arrumage, an arrangement of cargo, which evolved from the verb arrumer, to stow cargo (a = to, rumer = compartment in a ship and is probably Germanic in origin, Old High German ruem/High German Raum = space)

There are times when the word "search" just doesn't seem descriptive enough. In this case, try out "rummage" instead, particularly if the search is a bit disorganised or chaotic:

- I rummaged through my pockets until I found enough coins for the ticket machine.

- Look what I found while rummaging around in the attic; an old Elvis Presley album!

- I don't know where that document is. Let me rummage through the files. I'm sure I'll find it.

Rummage can even be used in a virtual sense, such as this passage from Peter Pan by James Matthew Barrie shows:

" It is the nightly custom of every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articles that have wandered during the day."

In its noun form, rummage can also refer to an unorganised collection of things, such as articles found in the attic or basement. Gathering these items together and selling them is called having a "rummage sale." This might also be referred to as a yard sale or a flea market.

So why is it called a flea market? This phrase derives from the French "marche aux puces", literally a market with fleas. Some of the first known flea markets were in 19th century Paris. They were so called because the abundance of second-hand articles, many of which were brought in by homeless people, were thought to gather fleas.

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SYNONYMS

(verb)
search, hunt, root, ransack, forage, fossick, examine, delve

(noun)
jumble, mare's nest, muddle, welter, disorderliness, disorder, chaos

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Practice OWAD in a conversation:

"RUMMAGE through those magazines while you're waiting, I'm sure you'll find something interesting."