Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Ransack
Ran′sack
(răn′săk)
, Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Ransacked
(-săkt)
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Ransacking
.] 1.
To search thoroughly; to search every place or part of;
as, to
. ransack
a houseTo
ransack
every corner of their . . . hearts. South.
2.
To plunder; to pillage completely.
Their vow is made
To
To
ransack
Troy. Shakespeare
3.
To violate; to ravish; to defiour.
[Obs.]
Rich spoil of
ransacked
chastity. Spenser.
Ran′sack
,Verb.
I.
To make a thorough search.
To
ransack
in the tas [heap] of bodies dead. Chaucer.
Ran′sack
,Noun.
The act of ransacking, or state of being ransacked; pillage.
[R.]
Even your father’s house
Shall not be free from
Shall not be free from
ransack
. J. Webster.
Webster 1828 Edition
Ransack
RAN'SACK
,Verb.
T.
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.]Definition 2024
ransack
ransack
English
Verb
ransack (third-person singular simple present ransacks, present participle ransacking, simple past and past participle ransacked)
- (transitive) To loot or pillage. See also sack.
- William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
- Their vow is made / To ransack Troy.
- William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
- (transitive) To make a vigorous and thorough search of (a place, person) with a view to stealing something, especially when leaving behind a state of disarray.
- to ransack a house for valuables
- Robert South (1634–1716)
- to ransack every corner of their […] hearts
- (archaic) To examine carefully; to investigate.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xiij, in Le Morte Darthur, book XIII:
- Thenne came there an olde monke whiche somtyme had ben a knyghte & behelde syre Melyas / And anone he ransakyd hym / & thenne he saide vnto syr Galahad I shal hele hym of this woūde by the grace of god within the terme of seuen wekes
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xiij, in Le Morte Darthur, book XIII:
- To violate; to ravish; to deflower.
- Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)
- Rich spoil of ransacked chastity.
- Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)
Translations
to loot or pillage