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scrabble

 - 4 dictionary results

scrab⋅ble

[skrab-uhl] verb, -bled, -bling, noun
–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 fol. 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.
–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.

Origin:
1530–40; < D schrabbelen to scratch, freq. of schrabben to scrape


scrabbler, noun

Scrab⋅ble

[skrab-uhl]
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. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To scrabble
scrab·ble   (skrāb'əl)   
v.   scrab·bled, scrab·bling, scrab·bles

v.   intr.
  1. To scrape or grope about frenetically with the hands.

  2. To struggle by or as if by scraping or groping.

  3. To climb with scrambling, disorderly haste; clamber.

  4. To make hasty, disordered markings; scribble.

v.   tr.
  1. To make or obtain by scraping together hastily.

  2. To scribble on or over.

n.  
  1. The act or an instance of scrabbling.

  2. A scribble; a doodle.


[Dutch schrabbelen, from Middle Dutch, frequentative of schrabben, to scrape; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots.]
scrab'bler n., scrab'bly adj.
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

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, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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