drabble

[ drab-uhl ]

verb (used with or without object),drab·bled, drab·bling.
  1. to draggle; make or become wet and dirty.

Origin of drabble

1
1350–1400; Middle English drabelen<Middle Low German drabbeln to wade in liquid mud, bespatter, equivalent to drabbe liquid mud + -eln frequentative v. suffix; see drab2, draff

Words Nearby drabble

Other definitions for Drabble (2 of 2)

Drabble
[ drab-uhl ]

noun
  1. Margaret, born 1939, English novelist.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use drabble in a sentence

  • Margaret drabble's new memoir, The Pattern in the Carpet , has just been published.

    Dame Drabble's Bookbag | Margaret Drabble | September 15, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • The novelist and critic, Margaret drabble  rescues Bennett this week from the worst of the charges against him.

    The Best of Brit Lit | Peter Stothard | August 20, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • Miss Darrell had once begged very humbly that her cook Parker might take a lesson from her, but Mrs. drabble refused point-blank.

    Uncle Max | Rosa Nouchette Carey
  • There was a drabble of dead leaves on the sidewalk which was of wood, and on the roadway which was of macadam and stiff mud.

  • There was a wall between Cleg and the drabble, a wall with a place for your toes.

    Cleg Kelly, Arab of the City | S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
  • After that the drabble, an it liked him, might steal all the collars in the Pleasance.

    Cleg Kelly, Arab of the City | S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
  • The drabble had a reason, or at least an excuse, for being on the spot.

    Cleg Kelly, Arab of the City | S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

British Dictionary definitions for drabble (1 of 2)

drabble

/ (ˈdræbəl) /


verb
  1. to make or become wet or dirty

Origin of drabble

1
C14: from Low German drabbelen to paddle in mud; related to drab ²

British Dictionary definitions for Drabble (2 of 2)

Drabble

/ (ˈdræbəl) /


noun
  1. Dame Margaret. born 1939, British novelist and editor. Her novels include The Needle's Eye (1972), The Radiant Way (1987), and The Seven Sisters (2002). She edited the 1985 edition of the Oxford Companion to Literature

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012