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

People forget what a rabble United were when he took over as head coach in January and he has brought a bit of calmness to the club.

From BBC ● May 7, 2026

Those belts, if you’ll remember, were the trigger for Meryl Streep’s Oscar-nominated speech about how her imperious fashion magazine editor in chief Miranda Priestly creates trends that trickle down to the rest of us rabble.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026

The rest of the set balanced her competing impulses: rock chick, singer-songwriter, rabble rouser, strident feminist, heartfelt balladeer.

From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2025

It tells the story of a count and countess whiling away their days in a secluded villa surrounded by a garden as a horde of rabble rousers approaches.

From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2024

Not a great thinker, not the mastermind of the rebellion, merely a face plucked from the rabble because I had caught the nation’s attention with my antics in the Games.

From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

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 Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay

The Episcopal clergymen were rabbled throughout all the western shires.

From Claverhouse by Mowbray Morris

In some of these works the hardships suffered by the rabbled priests of the western shires are set forth with a skill which irresistibly moves pity and indignation.

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

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 John Richard Green

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 Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay

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

They had abolished patronage; they had sanctioned the rabbling of the episcopal clergy; they had refused to pass a Toleration Act.

From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 4 by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay

I might have put it, ‘In the King’s name,’ but what I meant was that we are to proceed in decency and order—no unseemly rabbling, scuffling, or mischief making—otherwise ye have me to reckon with.

From The Dew of Their Youth by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

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 Samuel Smiles

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