Adjacent Words

Ransack definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

RAN'SACK, v.t. [Eng. rand, and ran is rapine. The last syllable coincides with the English verb to sack, to pillage.]
1. To plunder; to pillage completely; to strip by plundering; as, to ransack a house or city.
Their vow is made to ransack Troy.
2. To search thoroughly; to enter and search every place or part. It seems often to convey the sense of opening doors and parcels, and turning over things in search; as, to ransack files of papers.
I ransack the several caverns.
3. To violate; to ravish; to deflower; as ransacked chastity. [Not in use.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: steal goods; take as spoils; "During the earthquake people looted the stores that were deserted by their owners" [syn: plunder, despoil, loot, reave, strip, rifle, ransack, pillage, foray]
2: search thoroughly; "They combed the area for the missing child" [syn: comb, ransack]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Etymology: Middle English ransaken, from Old Norse rannsaka, from rann house + -saka (akin to Old English s?can to seek) — more at seek Date: 13th century 1. a. to search thoroughly b. to examine closely and carefully 2. to search through to commit robbery ; plunder • ransacker noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 pillage or plunder (a house, country, etc.). 2 thoroughly search (a place, a receptacle, a person's pockets, one's conscience, etc.). Derivatives: ransacker n. Etymology: ME f. ON rannsaka f. rann house + -saka f. soekja seek

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ransack Ran"sack, v. i. To make a thorough search. To ransack in the tas [heap] of bodies dead. --Chaucer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ransack Ran"sack, n. The act of ransacking, or state of being ransacked; pillage. [R.] Even your father's house Shall not be free fromransack. --J. Webster.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ransack Ran"sack, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ransacked; p. pr. & vb. n. Ransacking.] [OE. ransaken, Icel, rannsaka to explore, examine; rann a house (akin to Goth. razn house, AS. r[ae]sn plank, beam) + the root of s[ae]kja to seek, akin to E. seek. See Seek, and cf. Rest repose.] 1. To search thoroughly; to search every place or part of; as, to ransack a house. To ransack every corner of their . . . hearts. --South. 2. To plunder; to pillage completely. Their vow is made To ransack Troy. --Shak. 3. To violate; to ravish; to defiour. [Obs.] Rich spoil of ransacked chastity. --Spenser.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(ransacks, ransacking, ransacked) If people ransack a building, they damage things in it or make it very untidy, often because they are looking for something in a quick and careless way. Demonstrators ransacked and burned the house where he was staying... VERB: V n • ransacking ...the ransacking of the opposition party's offices. N-SING: the N of n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Plunder, pillage, sack, ravage, rifle, strip. 2. Explore, rummage, search thoroughly.

Moby Thesaurus

beat, burglarize, burgle, comb, depredate, despoil, examine, explore, fleece, forage, foray, freeboot, grub, gut, knock off, knock over, look all over, look everywhere, loot, maraud, pillage, plunder, prey on, raid, rake, ravage, raven, ravish, reive, relieve, rifle, rob, rummage, sack, scour, scrutinize, search, search high heaven, shake, shake down, spoil, spoliate, stick up, strip, sweep, toss, turn inside out, turn upside down