grabble
Americanverb (used without object)
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to feel or search with the hands; grope.
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to sprawl; scramble.
verb
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(intr) to scratch or feel about with the hands
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(intr) to fall to the ground; sprawl
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(tr) to seize rashly
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of grabble
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
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
I nebber digs my taters up Wen dey's only right to grabble.
From Negro Folk Rhymes Wise and Otherwise: With a Study by Thomas Washington Talley
A few hollow groans from the wardrobe, he thought, would be more than sufficient, or, if that failed to wake her, he might grabble at the counterpane with palsy-twitching fingers.
From Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde
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
Happy dat de house am full So yuh'll hab toh trabble; Mister Trouble, stretch yoh laigs Libely down de grabble!
From Oklahoma Sunshine by Freeman E. (Freeman Edwin) Miller
“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
He went ahead and run all aroun' de ginhouse and dey let him in de gin-room and he grabbled in de cottonseed in a hole.
From Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves: Volume I, Alabama Narratives by United States. Work Projects Administration
Some of them cleft the rocks with great axes; others grabbled in the sand.
From A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde
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
Other departments in California are grabbling with similar incidents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2020
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
‘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
Taylors out of work, who cut off the waistcoat pockets of their brethren, when cross-legged on their board, thereby grabbling their bit.
From 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose
Chief among these nascent classes were the landowners of the cities, at first grabbling tradesmen and land speculators and finally rising to the crowning position of multimillionaires.
From History of the Great American Fortunes, Vol. I Conditions in Settlement and Colonial Times by Myers Gustavus
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
