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rabble

 - 5 dictionary results

rab⋅ble

1  [rab-uhl] noun, verb, -bled, -bling.
Use rabble in a Sentence
–noun
1. a disorderly crowd; mob.
2. the rabble, the lower classes; the common people: The nobility held the rabble in complete contempt.
–verb (used with object)
3. to beset as a rabble does; mob.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME rabel (n.), of uncert. orig.

rab⋅ble

2  [rab-uhl] noun, verb, -bled, -bling. Metallurgy
–noun
1. a tool or mechanically operated device used for stirring or mixing a charge in a roasting furnace.
–verb (used with object)
2. to stir (a charge) in a roasting furnace.
Origin:
1655–65; < F râble fire-shovel, tool, MF raable < L rutābulum implement for shifting hot coals, equiv. to *rutā(re) presumed freq. of ruere to churn up, disturb + -bulum suffix of instrument

Related forms:
rabbler, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To rabble
rab·ble 1   (rāb'əl)   
n.  

  1. A tumultuous crowd; a mob.

  2. The lowest or coarsest class of people. Often used with the.

  3. A group of persons regarded with contempt: "After subsisting on the invisible margins of the art scene ... he was 'discovered' in the mid-80's, along with a crowd of like-minded rabble from the East Village" (Richard B. Woodward).


[Middle English.]
rab·ble 2   (rāb'əl)   
n.  

  1. An iron bar used to stir and skim molten iron in puddling.

  2. Any of various similar tools or mechanically operated devices used in roasting or refining furnaces.

tr.v.   rab·bled, rab·bling, rab·bles
To stir or skim (molten iron) with an iron bar.

[French râble, fire shovel, from Old French roable, from Medieval Latin rotābulum, from Latin rutābulum, from rutus, past participle of ruere, to rake up, tumble down.]
rab'bler n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

rabble 
c.1300, "pack of animals," possibly related to M.E. rabeln "speak in a rapid, confused manner," probably imitative of hurry and confusion (cf. M.Du. rabbelen, Low Ger. rabbeln "to chatter"). Meaning "tumultuous crowd of people" is first recorded 1513; applied contemptuously to the common or low part of any populace from 1553. Rabble-rousing first attested 1802 in Sydney Smith.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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