scrawl
[skrawl]
- to write or draw in a sprawling, awkward manner: He scrawled his name hastily across the blackboard.
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- to write awkwardly, carelessly, or illegibly.
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- awkward, careless, or illegible handwriting.
- something scrawled, as a letter or a note.
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Origin of scrawl
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for scrawled
Contemporary Examples
Notes were scrawled on a large white board, and “The Internet Association” was written in chalk on a blackboard.
The messages that are scrawled in pen on benches are decidedly rated G.
He opens a letter from his daughter, scrawled in uneven crayon: “Dear Daddy, can I come see you soon?”
The words have been scrawled into the concrete footing of a makeshift dwelling in the mountains of New Mexico.
On the cover page was inscribed a big red "C." Inside were scrawled a professor's critical comments.
Historical Examples
With it was a scrawled line, "I'm leaving the head and heels of the future to you."
Her Father's DaughterGene Stratton-Porter
And I saw that the address, scrawled in pencil, was in Anthony's handwriting.
It Happened in EgyptC. N. Williamson
He then unfolded a second paper, on which some verses to Sarah Bernhardt were scrawled.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
These words were scrawled in pencil on the inside: 'I don't want it indeed.
Life And Adventures Of Martin ChuzzlewitCharles Dickens
Often she had scanned Lucia's scrawled programs for the names there.
The Innocent AdventuressMary Hastings Bradley
scrawl
- to write or draw (signs, words, etc) carelessly or hastily; scribble
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- careless or scribbled writing, drawing, or marks
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Word Origin
C17: perhaps a blend of sprawl and crawl 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for scrawled
scrawl
v.
1610s, "write or draw untidily," of uncertain origin, perhaps from Middle English scrawlen "spread out the limbs, sprawl" (early 15c.), which possibly is an alteration of sprawlen (see sprawl (v.)) or crawl (v.). Related: Scrawled; scrawling. The noun is recorded from 1690s, from the verb. Meaning "bad handwriting" is from 1710.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper