Ransacks

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Examines a place or container in a forceful and disorderly way to find something hidden or valuable
2. Turns over objects in a messy and aggressive manner while seeking a specific item or valuables
3. Inspects and disturbs an area roughly and completely when looking for something, often causing damage

Etymology: The word's origin lies in the act of searching a home. Old Norse had "rannsaka", built from "rann", meaning "house", and "saka", meaning "to seek". To ransack was to go through someone's house looking for something. English took the term from Norse, and its early uses in Middle English still carry that sense of searching. Over time the emphasis moved from looking to wrecking. A thorough search tends to leave things overturned, so the disorder became the point, and the word came to describe the damage as much as the hunt. Despite its look, "ransack" has no connection to "ransom". Ransom comes from Latin "redimere", meaning "to buy back", by way of Old French, and the two words only resemble each other by chance.

Synonyms: plunders, loots