- rummage (v.)
- 1520s, "act of arranging cargo in a ship," a shortening of Middle French arrumage "arrangement of cargo," from arrumer "to stow goods in the hold of a ship," from a- "to" + rumer, probably from Germanic (cf. Old Norse rum "compartment in a ship," Old High German rum "space," Old English rum, see room). Meaning "to search (the hold of a ship) thoroughly" first recorded 1620s. Related: Rummaged; rummaging. Rummage sale (1803) originally was a sale at docks of unclaimed goods.