请输入您要查询的英文单词:

 

单词 scrabble
释义 I. scrabble, n.1|ˈskræb(ə)l|
[f. scrabble v.]
1. A scrawling character in writing, hence, a document composed of such characters. Also, a picture composed of or characterized by careless or hastily-executed line-work.
1842P. F. Tytler in Burgon Mem. xiv. (1859) 311 Peregrine's letters they could read, but the Duchess of Suffolk..defied them..with her fearful scrabbles.1862C. M. Yonge C'tess Kate i, With some peaked scrabbles and round whirls intended for smoke.1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Scrabble, a badly written log.1881Ruskin in 19th Cent. Oct. 517 Yesterday..came to me from the Fine Art Society, a series of twenty black and white scrabbles.1908Athenæum 11 Apr. 457/2 A composition of some grace, but much of it executed in a scrabble of lines which wants repose.
2. U.S. A scramble; a confused struggle, a ‘free-for-all’.
1794Gazette of U.S. 21 Feb. 3/2 The Frenchman..in a scrabble swore he would have another hem to his ruffle, and in the very scrabble lost his shirt.1849T. T. Johnson Sights in Gold Region 66 We often got caught by the waves, and had a grand scrabble to reach dry land.1911R. D. Saunders Colonel Todhunter of Missouri 43 Whoever wins will win after the toughest scrabble you and me ever saw in Missouri politics.
3. The action or sound of scrabbling (scrabble v. 2 a).
1894T. B. Aldrich Two Bites at Cherry 145 The next sound I heard was the scrabble of the animal's four paws as he landed on the gravelled pathway.1946D. C. Peattie Road of Naturalist i. 12, I could not hear her breathing, but I heard another sound... Someone else was trying, with a faint scrabble, to find his way out.
II. scrabble, v.|ˈskræb(ə)l|
Also 7 scrable.
[a. Du. schrabbelen (in sense 2; for sense 1 cf. schrabbelaar ‘bad writer, scrawler’, Verdam), frequentative of schrabben scrab v.]
1. intr. To make marks at random; to write in rambling or scrawling characters; to scrawl, scribble.
1537Bible (Matthew's) 1 Sam. xxi. 13 And he..raued in their handes and scrabled on the dores of the gate. [So 1611.]1625[cf. scrabbled ppl. a.].a1628Preston Serm. bef. His Majestie (1630) 86 We reckon men mad..when they scrabble vpon the walls.1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Scrabble, to write in an uncouth and unsightly manner; to make unmeaning marks, as boys often do with chalk on a wall or gate.a1889in Baring-Gould & Sheppard Songs of West (1905) 67 So with his finger dipp'd in blood, He scrabbled on the stones.
b. trans. To write or depict (something) in a scrawling manner; also, to scrawl upon (something).
1856C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain ii. v. (1879) 386, I do scrabble down things that tease me by running in my head, when I want to clear my brains.1857H. Miller Sch. & Schm. ii. 21 One of my first attempts at a work of art was to scrabble his initials with my fingers, in red paint, on the house-door.1883Spectator 5 May 557 Technically the painting is better..though the white ruff of the collie could be improved by being toned down, and not being scrabbled about so much.1894Cornhill Mag. June 635 The face of the cliff is..scrabbled all over with marks of men's hands making homes for themselves in the living rock.
2. intr. Of an animal: To scratch about hurriedly with the claws or paws; hence, of a person, to scratch or scrape about with the hands or feet.
1600Surflet Country Farm i. xv. 93 Cast out..fresh straw right ouer against the barne, where the pullen vse to scrabble.1668J. Howe Blessedn. Righteous xiii. 240 Tis a low, Dunghil spirit; fit for nothing but to rake, and scrabble in the dirt.1863Wood in Intell. Observ. IV. 22 The mole..then scrabbled about until he came upon the rest of the worm.1896Kipling Seven Seas 74 Gangs of the prying gull That shriek and scrabble on the river hatches.1900E. Glyn Vis. Elizabeth (1906) 62 Upon which Victorine looked coy, and began scrabbling with her toes on the parquet.
b. trans. To make scratching movements with.
1890W. H. Pollock in Longm. Mag. Aug. 406 The parrot..scrabbled his beak on the edge of his food-can.
3. intr. Of a person: To scramble on hands and feet; to stumble or struggle along; lit. and fig.; also occas. of an animal. Now somewhat rare.
16382nd Relat. Accidents Wydecombe 23 Then presently the rest of the people scrabled forth the Church as well as they could.1666Bunyan Grace Abound. §198, I did liken myself..unto..a child that was fallen into a mill-pit, who, though it could make some shift to scrabble and sprawl in the water, yet [etc.].1678Pilgr. Progr. i. 167 Little-faith came to himself, and getting up made shift to scrabble on his way.1738Universal Spectator 11 Nov. 3/3 The Hog had scrabbled up Stairs, shook the Child out of its blankets, [and] kill'd it.1742Wesley Extr. Jrnl. 1 Mar. (1749) 32 The boat..was driven down among the rocks: on one of which we made shift to scrabble up.1774J. Adams in Fam. Lett. (1876) 12 One member of the General Court, he said, as they came down stairs after their dissolution at Salem said to him, ‘Though we are killed, we died scrabbling, did not we?’1812J. Henry Camp. agst. Quebec 115 Scrabbling out of the cavity, without assistance.1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., I have hard work to get a living, but I hope I shall manage to scrabble on.1894Blackmore Perlycross xxxvi, A dozen or so of poor creatures,..too tipsy to battle with the wind,..wallowed upon sacks, and scrabbled under the stanchion-boards, where the gaiety [of the Fair] had been.1900F. T. Bullen Idylls of Sea 184 The poor possessors of only a four-oared galley hope to rise to the dignity of a lugger, so that they may quit scrabbling along the shores.
4. trans. To scratch or rake (something) up, off, out, etc. hurriedly; to obtain by scratching or raking about.
1657Bunyan Vindic. Gospel Truths (1862) II. 203 How dost thou run about the bush, seeking to scrabble up an answer.1658F. Osborne Trad. Mem. K. Jas. 85 The King..casting himselfe upon the heap scrabled out the quantity of 2 or 3 hundred poundes.1808Sporting Mag. XXXII. 82 The wool, with part of the skin scrabbled off.1863Baring-Gould Iceland 121 The snow had been scrabbled up by the puffed hands in the death agony.1899F. T. Bullen Way Navy 95 The trimmers must lie flat and scrabble the coal away as fast as it is pelted down.1905E. Nesbit Amulet i. in Strand Mag. May 587/2 It scrabbled a hasty hole in the sand.
5. intr. To struggle or scramble for (something).
1698Vanbrugh Prov. Wife iii. (1709) 32 That Phantome of Honour, which Men in every Age have so contemn'd, they have thrown it amongst the Women to scrabble for.1861C. C. Robinson Dial. Leeds 399 A generous juvenile ‘scrammles’ a handful ‘o' peis’, which are instantly ‘scrabbled’ for.
随便看

 

英语词典包含277258条英英释义在线翻译词条,基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法,是英语学习的有利工具。

 

Copyright © 2004-2022 Newdu.com All Rights Reserved
更新时间:2025/2/7 15:46:05