3 entries under this word
n. [Written also romage.] [Fr. remuage, a moving or stirring, from remuer, to move, to stir, from Lat. re, again, and mutare, to move away from its place, to change.] A searching carefully by looking into every corner, and by turning things over. “Has made such a general rummage and reform in the office of matrimony.” H. Walpole.
Rummage sale, a clearance sale of unclaimed goods in a public store, or of odds and ends which have accumulated in a shop. Simmonds.
[imp. & p. p. RUMMAGED; p. pr. & vb. n. RUMMAGING.] [From the noun. See supra.]
Sense 1. To search or examine thoroughly by looking into every corner, and turning over or removing goods or other things.
He . . . searcheth his pockets, and taketh his keys, and so rummageth all his closets and trunks. Howell.
Sense 2. (Naut.) To remove, as goods or luggage, from one place to another, especially from the ship’s hold, in order to their being handsomely stowed and placed.
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 by a jolly ghost, That rummaged like a rat. Tennyson.