garble

American  

[gahr-buhl] / ˈgɑr bəl /

verb (used with object)

garbled, garbling

1. to confuse unintentionally or ignorantly; jumble.

   to garble instructions.

2. to make unfair or misleading selections from or arrangement of (fact, statements, writings, etc.); distort.

   to garble a quotation.

3. Archaic. to take out the best of.

---

noun

1. the act or process of garbling.

2. an instance of garbling; a garbled phrase, literary passage, etc.

garble British  

/ ˈɡɑːbəl /

verb

1. to jumble (a story, quotation, etc), esp unintentionally

2. to distort the meaning of (an account, text, etc), as by making misleading omissions; corrupt

3. rare to select the best part of

---

noun

1. 1. the act of garbling

   2. garbled matter

Other Word Forms

• garbleable
  adjective
• garbler
  noun
• ungarbled
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of garble

1400–50; late Middle English garbelen to remove refuse from spices < Old Italian garbellare to sift < Arabic gharbala < Late Latin crībellāre, derivative of crībellum, diminutive of Latin crībrum sieve ( see -elle); probably influenced by garboil

Explanation

When you garble something, you warp or distort it, making it hard to understand. Talking with marbles in your mouth is one sure way of garbling your speech. When garble first emerged on the scene in the early 15th century, it meant "to sift" or "sort through." So imagine a sentence so scrambled that you have to sort through each word, trying to figure out what everything means. Garbling can happen by accident, like when your radio signal is bad and the songs get all distorted. But spies often jumble up their secret messages on purpose to protect them from prying eyes and ears.

Example Sentences

Miss Mere," said Garble, "is in her room, resuming her ordinary attire.

From The Happy Hypocrite A Fairy Tale For Tired Men by Beerbohm, Max, Sir

Garble declared he had been compensated for her perfidy, but that he was sure she had not succumbed to his Lordship, having in fact rejected him soundly.

From The Happy Hypocrite A Fairy Tale For Tired Men by Beerbohm, Max, Sir

Miss Mere, though visibly affected, had spoken this speech with a gesture and elocution so superb, that Mr. Garble could not help applauding, deeply though he regretted her attitude towards his honoured patron.

From The Happy Hypocrite A Fairy Tale For Tired Men by Beerbohm, Max, Sir

Garble, g�r′bl, v.t. to select what may serve our own purpose, in a bad sense: to mutilate, corrupt, or falsify.—n.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

Was that copy of a writ sarved yesterday upon Garble, the tailor?

From The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor Vol I, No. 2, February 1810 by Carpenter, S. C. (Stephen Cullen)

Related Words

• misinterpret