• IPA: /ˈɹænsæk/

ransack (ransacks, present participle ransacking; past and past participle ransacked)

1. (transitive) To loot or pillage. See also sack.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene prologue]:

     Their vow is made / To ransack Troy.

2. (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

   • to ransack every corner of their […] hearts

3. (archaic) To examine carefully; to investigate.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:15.13?rgn=div2;view=fulltext 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

4. To violate; to ravish; to deflower.

   • Rich spoil of ransacked chastity.

• French: mettre à sac, saccager
• German: plündern
• Italian: saccheggiare
• Spanish: saquear, desvalijar

• French: fouiller
• German: durchwühlen
• Italian: rovistare
• Spanish: escudriñar

ransack (plural ransacks)

1. Eager search.
   • 1861, The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art

     Perhaps this stone also will turn up in the ransack of the sultan's treasury.