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.
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. --Simmonds.
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.