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.

---

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.

---

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

---

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

---

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

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

Steve Clarke's side looked like a disorganised rabble just waiting to be put out of their misery.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2025

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

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2024

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

I was sure at any moment they were going to smoke us out and figure we were rabble, living on top of one another in a seventies junkbox down below.

From "Landscape with Invisible Hand" by M.T. Anderson

He thought that the rabbled curates had been hardly treated.

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

The ores in this furnace should therefore be fed in at the colder end of the hearth and be gradually worked or "rabbled" forward to the firing end.

From Getting Gold: a practical treatise for prospectors, miners and students by Johnson, J. C. F. (Joseph Colin Frances)

A form of notice was drawn up and served on every curate in the Western Lowlands who had not yet been rabbled.

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

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

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

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

Hamilton insisted that the question, should be, "Approve or not approve the rabbling?"

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

There are several modifications of the reverberatory furnace in use, designed mechanically to effect the rabbling.

From Getting Gold: a practical treatise for prospectors, miners and students by Johnson, J. C. F. (Joseph Colin Frances)

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

One disadvantage of the reverberatory furnace is the fact that it is impossible to avoid the incursion of air during the manual rabbling action, and this tends to cool the furnace.

From Getting Gold: a practical treatise for prospectors, miners and students by Johnson, J. C. F. (Joseph Colin Frances)