rabble

¹ American  

[rab-uhl] / ˈræb əl /

noun

1. a disorderly crowd; mob.

2. the rabble, the lower classes; the common people.

   The nobility held the rabble in complete contempt.

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verb (used with object)

rabbled, rabbling

1. to beset as a rabble does; mob.

rabble ² American  

[rab-uhl] / ˈræb əl /

noun

1. a tool or mechanically operated device used for stirring or mixing a charge in a roasting furnace.

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verb (used with object)

rabbled, rabbling

1. to stir (a charge) in a roasting furnace.

rabble ¹ British  

/ ˈræbəl /

noun

1. a disorderly crowd; mob

2. derogatory the common people

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rabble ² British  

/ ˈræbəl /

noun

1. Also called: rabbler.  an iron tool or mechanical device for stirring, mixing, or skimming a molten charge in a roasting furnace

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verb

1. (tr) to stir, mix, or skim (the molten charge) in a roasting furnace

Other Word Forms

• rabbler
  noun

Etymology

Origin of rabble¹

1350–1400; Middle English rabel (noun), of uncertain origin

Origin of rabble²

1655–65; < French râble fire-shovel, tool, Middle French raable < Latin rutābulum implement for shifting hot coals, equivalent to *rutā ( re ) presumed frequentative of ruere to churn up, disturb + -bulum suffix of instrument

Explanation

A rabble is a noisy gathering of people. The police might arrive to calm the rabble that crowds the sidewalks after a huge win for the local football team. You can use the noun rabble for any mob of angry or excited people, whether it's a political gathering or a rowdy celebration. Rabble also means "commoners," but it's a snobby and somewhat offensive way to talk about ordinary folks: "The king preferred to stay inside his castle, far away from the rabble." Originally, rabble meant "pack of animals."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rabble rabbled rabbling

England were as comprehensive winners as the scoreline suggested, but the value of the victory has to be assessed in the context of a rabble of a performance from Fiji.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

From start to finish, pure madness, amid a rabble that never calmed, never quieted, never quit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2024

United, in the sharpest of contrasts, were a shambles – a rabble.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2024

The heroes of the party are now living saints to the teary-eyed rabble who worship them.

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2024

Like Bestemama, he sat most of the time quietly in a chair, saying very little and totally overwhelmed, I imagine, by the raucous rabble who were destroying his neat and polished home.

From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl

In the Western Lowlands, the beneficed clergy had been so effectually rabbled, that scarcely one of them had remained at his post.

From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 3 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

Surely, it was said, a rabbled curate might well be left to the severe scrutiny of the sixty Inquisitors.

From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 3 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

The bishops' carriages were stopped, and the prelates themselves rabbled on their way to the House.

From History of the English People, Volume V Puritan England, 1603-1660 by Green, John Richard

Unhappily throughout a large part of Scotland the clergy of the Established Church were, to use the phrase then common, rabbled.

From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 3 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

Was it reasonable to ask her to mutilate her apostolical polity and her beautiful ritual for the purpose of conciliating those who wanted nothing but power to rabble her as they had rabbled her sister?

From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 3 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

Instead of expressing amused bewilderment at the peculiarity of fame--a strategy Colin Farrell has perfected--he was defiant, his Maximusian scowl declaring "How dare you be intrigued by me, ungrateful rabbling dogs!"

From Time Magazine Archive

The method that occurred to me was the substitution of a small steam pipe in the place of the puddler's rabbling bar.

From James Nasmyth: Engineer; an autobiography by Smiles, Samuel

It is then turned on full, and a violent boiling action is maintained without any rabbling.

From The Galaxy, Volume 23, No. 2, February, 1877 by Various

Of mechanically rabbling furnaces we may mention the O’Harra modified by Allen-Brown, the Hixon, the Keller-Gaylord-Cole, the Ropp, the Spence, the Wethey, the Parkes, Pearce’s “Turret” and Brown’s “Horseshoe” furnaces.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 3 "Convention" to "Copyright" by Various

Hand rabbling in fixed furnaces has been largely superseded by mechanical rabbling.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 3 "Convention" to "Copyright" by Various