ransaken

• ransake, raunsake, rensake
• ransakyn (East Anglia); ronsak, ronsake (West Midland)

Borrowed from Old Norse rannsaka (“to search a house (especially for stolen goods)”),^[1] from rann (“house”) (from Proto-Germanic *razną (“dwelling, house”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁- (“lonesome; quiet; to rest”)) + saka, an ablaut variant of sœkja, sǿkja (“to look for, search, seek”) (from Proto-Germanic *sōkijaną (“to look for, seek”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to follow; to seek out, trace”)).

• IPA^(key): /ˈranˌsaːkən/, /ˈranˌsakən/, (West Midland) /ˈrɔn-/

ransaken (third-person singular simple present ransaketh, present participle ransakende, ransakynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle ransaked)

1. (ambitransitive) To look through or search through (someone or something):
   1. (transitive) To ransack or plunder; to search in order to steal from.
   2. (transitive, figurative) To examine (someone or something) carefully; to investigate.
      • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “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

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (transitive) To look for or seek out; to attempt to find (an object, person, or quality)
3. (transitive, rare) To steal, purloin, or loot (an object).
4. (transitive, rare) To treat (a person) roughly or violently; to mistreat.

• English: ransack