ransack

Etymology

From Middle English ransaken, from Old Norse rannsaka, from rann (“house”) + saka (“search”); probably influenced by sack. Compare Danish ransage, Swedish rannsaka.

verb

1. (transitive) To loot or pillage. See also sack.
   Hellen Gravely: 'You ransacked my hotel, captured my staff with that strange vacuum of yours... And to top it all off, you catnapped my sweetie, my little darling... My precious Polterkitty!' 30 October 2019, Next Level Games, Luigi's Mansion 3, v1.4.0, Nintendo, level/area: Main Observation Room (15F: Master Suite)
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
3. (archaic) To examine carefully; to investigate.
4. To violate; to ravish; to deflower.

noun

1. Eager search.
   Perhaps this stone also will turn up in the ransack of the sultan's treasury. 1861, The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art