scrabble

See also: Scrabble and scrabblé

English

Etymology

From Middle Dutch schrabbelen, frequentative of schrabben (“to scrape”), equivalent to scrab +‎ -le. More at scrape.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskɹæbəl/
• Rhymes: -æbəl

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

scrabble (third-person singular simple present scrabbles, present participle scrabbling, simple past and past participle scrabbled)

1. (intransitive) To scrape or scratch powerfully with hands or claws.
   • [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:

     […] there came no answer, except the echo of my own voice sounding hollow and far off down in the vault. So in despair I turned back to the earth wall below the slab, and scrabbled at it with my fingers, till my nails were broken and the blood ran out; having all the while a sure knowledge, like a cord twisted round my head, that no effort of mine could ever dislodge the great stone.

   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, London: Wordsworth Classics, published 1993, page 12:

     So he scraped and scratched and scrabbled and scrooged, then he scrooged again[.]

   • 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 217:

     The lane had not been designed for ponderous trucks. In the narrower parts we had to push our way along it between bushes and brambles which scrabbled along the sides as though they tried to pull us back.

2. (transitive) To gather hastily.

   Synonym: scramble

   • 2014 March 24, Adam Reed, “On the Carpet” (19:15 from the start), in Archer‎^[1], season 5, episode 9, spoken by Malory Archer (Jessica Walter):

     “Oh. The perfect ending to the perfect-- [chuckles] I almost said evening. More like months, though, isn't it? Since we started scrabbling for coins because the damn government took away our-- every thing. They took everything. And the only thing that was left, you idiots either lost, gave away, ate, or just blew up and sank.”

3. (intransitive) To move with difficulty by making rapid movements back and forth with the hands or paws.

   She was on her hands and knees scrabbling in the mud, looking for her missing wedding ring.

4. (intransitive) To scribble.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 21:13:

     David […] scrabbled on the doors of the gate.

5. (transitive) To mark with irregular lines or letters; to scribble on.

   to scrabble paper

Derived terms

• hardscrabble
• scrabbler
• scrabbly
• scribble-scrabble

Translations

to scrape or scratch powerfully

• Bulgarian: дращя (bg) (draštja)
• Finnish: raapia (fi)

to do rapid back-and-forth movements with hands or paws

• Bulgarian: драскам (bg) (draskam)
• Finnish: haroa (fi)

to scribble — see scribble

See also

• scrab
• scramble
• scrap
• scrape
• scrapple (a sausage-like food)

Noun

scrabble (plural scrabbles)

1. A scramble.

   a scrabble for dear life

Anagrams

• clabbers, crabbles

French

Noun

scrabble m (plural scrabbles)

1. (Scrabble) a play where all seven tiles are used; a bingo

Verb

scrabble

1. inflection of scrabbler:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “scrabble”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English scrabble.

Noun

scrabble n (plural scrabble-uri)

1. scrabble

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	scrabble	scrabbleul	scrabble-uri	scrabble-urile
genitive-dative	scrabble	scrabbleului	scrabble-uri	scrabble-urilor
vocative	scrabbleule		scrabble-urilor