grabble

American  

[grab-uhl] / ˈgræb əl /

verb (used without object)

grabbled, grabbling

1. to feel or search with the hands; grope.

2. to sprawl; scramble.

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grabble British  

/ ˈɡræbəl /

verb

1. (intr) to scratch or feel about with the hands

2. (intr) to fall to the ground; sprawl

3. (tr) to seize rashly

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Other Word Forms

• grabbler
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of grabble

1570–80; grab ¹ + -le; compare Dutch grabbelen

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

grabble grabbled grabbling

You could ache for the cozy city of the past in “The Royal Tenenbaums” or grabble with the schism of everything suddenly feeling different in “Mulholland Drive.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

It’s that we want—and need—the ability to grabble with nuance and ambiguity that are inherent when our bodies and minds fail.

From Slate ● Apr. 9, 2018

Now, they, I admid, were fine, noble, sensible fellows; they had indelligence enough to regognize the diffiguldies of the siduation, and do grabble with them in a sensible way.

From The Log of the Flying Fish A Story of Aerial and Submarine Peril and Adventure by Gordon Browne

To grabble the bit; to seize any   one's money.

From 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose

For “the wind bloweth where it listeth,” as Christ saith; we must not grabble nor search after the same.

From Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther by Captain Henry Bell

“Rebel Yell” starts up from the sound system and, as if on cue, my son lets out a grabbled “a-woooh!”

From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2015

Suddenly, the Fleshlumpeater shot out two enormous hands and grabbled the BFG around the waist.

From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl

Ed King and Jim Maxwell each had a sack of sweet potatoes, grabbled in a field a mile and a half away.

From A History of Lumsden's Battery, C.S.A. by James Robert Maxwell

Jim stopp'd an' grabbled up a clot, An' zent en at en lik' a shot; An' down went Daw an' cage avore The clot, up thump ageän the door.

From Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect by William Barnes

Some of them cleft the rocks with great axes; others grabbled in the sand.

From A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde

Other departments in California are grabbling with similar incidents.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2020

‘We will swear to do what he wants, yes, yess,’ said Gollum, still twisting and grabbling at his ankle.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

And then, as if a signal has gone off that only the childrens can hear, all of their hands are reaching and grabbling and snatching.

From "The Unfinished Angel" by Sharon Creech

I heard Collins grabbling for it, somewhere in the dark of the tunnel.

From The La Chance Mine Mystery by George W. Gage

The furies of rage and rancour were grabbling at her heart, even as the leopard had scrabbled on her face.

From Blue Aloes Stories of South Africa by Cynthia Stockley

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