scrabble
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əl verb (used with object)
1.
to scratch or scrape, as with the claws or hands.
2.
to grapple or struggle with or as if with the claws or hands.
3.
to scrawl; scribble.
verb (used without object)
4.
to scratch or dig frantically with the hands; claw (often followed by at ): scrabbling at a locked door to escape the flames.
5.
to jostle or struggle for possession of something; grab or collect something in a disorderly way; scramble.
00:10
Scrabble
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is fletcherise. Does it mean:
| to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about. |
| to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly. |
noun
6.
a scratching or scraping, as with the claws or hands.
7.
a scrawled or scribbled writing.
8.
a disorderly struggle for possession of something; scramble: After the fumble, there was a scrabble for the football.
Related forms
scrab·bler, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Trademark.
a brand name for a game combining anagrams and crosswords in which two to four players use counters of various point values to form words on a playing board.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To Scrabble
Collins
World English Dictionary
scrabble (ˈskræbəl) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —vb (often foll by for) | |
| 1. | (intr; |
| 2. | to struggle (with) |
| 3. | to struggle to gain possession, esp in a disorderly manner |
| 4. | to scribble |
| —n | |
| 5. | the act or an instance of scrabbling |
| 6. | a scribble |
| 7. | a disorderly struggle |
| [C16: from Middle Dutch shrabbelen, frequentative of shrabben to scrape] | |
| Scrabble (ˈskræbəl) | |
| —n | |
| trademark a board game in which words are formed by placing lettered tiles in a pattern similar to a crossword puzzle | |
| 'Scrabbler | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
scrabble
1537, "to scrawl, scribble," from Du. schrabbelen, frequentative of schrabben "to scratch," from the same root as scrape (q.v.). Meaning "to struggle, scramble" first recorded 1638. The game Scrabble is from 1950, proprietary name (reg. U.S.), probably from scribble-scrabble
"hasty writing" (1589), a reduplication of scribble.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
Hordes of freelance miners scrabble for ore by hand, wash it in a river and sell it to local smugglers.
Or it can stop paying unemployed workers, and let them scrabble around for something.
Preventive health care has already become neglected as the township hospitals scrabble to make ends meet.
Their legs would scrabble around and they nearly choked themselves trying to get off.
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