drabble

[ drab-uhl ]

/ ˈdræb əl /

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verb (used with or without object), drab·bled, drab·bling.

to draggle; make or become wet and dirty.

QUIZ

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Question 1 of 7

IS and ARE are both forms of which verb?

have

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Origin of drabble

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

DQ, dr, draa, drab, drabbet, drabble, dracaena, drachm, drachma, drack, Draco

Other definitions for drabble (2 of 2)

Drabble

[ drab-uhl ]

/ ˈdræb əl /

noun

Margaret, born 1939, English novelist.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

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|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|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.
Stories of a Western Town|Octave Thanet

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

to make or become wet or dirty

Word Origin for drabble

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

British Dictionary definitions for drabble (2 of 2)

Drabble

/ (ˈdræbəl) /

noun

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