scrabblen.1
/ˈskrab(ə)l/ 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.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > written text > [noun] > a scribble or scrawl
scribblinga1555
scribble1577
scribblement1584
scrabble1842
scriggle1905
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > [noun] > carelessly executed
scrabble1842
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > qualities or styles of painting > [noun] > painting badly or carelessly > work
daubery1546
daubing1713
daub1761
scrabble1842
blotch1860
1842 P. F. Tytler in J. W. Burgon Mem. P. Tyler (1859) xiv. 311 Peregrine's letters they could read, but the Duchess of Suffolk..defied them..with her fearful scrabbles.
1862 C. M. Yonge Countess Kate i. 7 With some peaked scrabbles and round whirls intended for smoke.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Scrabble, a badly written log.
1881 J. Ruskin in 19th Cent. Oct. 517 Yesterday..came to me from the Fine Art Society, a series of twenty black and white scrabbles.
1908 Athenæum 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’.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > contention or strife > [noun] > an act or instance of
flitec1000
strifea1225
wara1300
pulla1400
lakec1420
contenta1450
stour?c1450
contentiona1500
pingle1543
agony1555
feudc1565
combat1567
skirmish1576
grapple1604
counter-scuffle1628
scuffle1641
agon1649
tug1660
tug of war1677
risse1684
struggle1692
palaver1707
hash1789
warsle1792
scrabble1794
set-to1794
go1823
bucklea1849
wrestle1850
tussle1857
head-to-head1884
scrum1905
battleground1931
shoot-out1953
mud-wrestle1986
1794 Gazette 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.
1849 T. T. Johnson Sights Gold Region 66 We often got caught by the waves, and had a grand scrabble to reach dry land.
1911 R. D. Saunders Col. Todhunter 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. 2a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by habits or actions > habits and actions > [noun] > scrabbling or scratching
scrabbling1582
scrabbing1880
scrabble1894
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > irregular movement or agitation > [noun] > scratching or scraping about
scrabbling1582
scrabble1894
1894 T. 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.
1946 D. C. Peattie Road of Naturalist (U.K. ed.) 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.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
Scrabblen.2
/ˈskrab(ə)l/ The proprietary name of a game in which players use tiles displaying individual letters to form words on a special board.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > other board games > [noun] > others
quek1376
quek-board1477
draughtsc1540
goose1597
mancala1687
pachisi1801
Chinese chequers1840
go1840
shogi1858
wari1866
wei ch'i1871
gobang1875
crokinole1885
Kono1895
salta1901
Snakes and Ladders1907
pegity1925
oware1929
monopoly1934
Scrabble1950
morabaraba1953
Chutes and Ladders1955
pentominos1975
Trivial Pursuit1982
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > table game > other table games > [noun] > word games
word-making and word-taking1879
lexicon1932
Scrabble1950
1950 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 10 Jan. 334/2 The Production and Marketing Corporation, Newtown, Conn... Scrabble. For Game including Board and Playing Pieces. Claims use since Dec. 1, 1948.
1953 New Yorker 30 May 17/2 We present for your edification the history of Scrabble, the biggest thing in games since Monopoly and maybe the biggest thing ever.
1953 New Yorker 30 May 18/1 It was as if everyone alive were suddenly clamoring to play Scrabble.
1954 Trade Marks Jrnl. 21 July 736/1 Scrabble... ‘Board games.’ Production and Marketing Corporation (a Corporation organised and existing under the laws of the State of Connecticut, United States of America; Merchants).
1957 T. Girtin in Pick of Punch 150/1 My suspicions were first aroused while I was losing to my wife at ‘Scrabble’.
1959 C. Spry Favourite Flowers iii. 25 For relaxation I sometimes play the spelling game of Scrabble and in consequence am wearing to ribbons the unwieldy volumes of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.
1962 A. Sampson Anat. Brit. xxvii. 450 He likes going home early,..and plays bridge or scrabble in the evenings.
1971 C. Bonington Annapurna South Face ix. 107 After the meal we played liar dice or Scrabble.
1978 J. Matson Dear Osborne xxii. 151 Scrabble, Shove Ha'penny and Draughts indicate the levels of skills and activities.
Compounds
attributive and in other combinations.
ΚΠ
1954 Newsweek 26 Apr. 57 To help Scrabble fans, crossword-puzzle addicts, and other persons troubled for a word ending in ‘x’, ‘y’, or ‘z’, a ‘reverse’ dictionary has been compiled at the University of Massachusetts.
1956 N. Streatfeild Judith ii. 117 Cynthia sprawled over the Scrabble board.
1960 Sunday Express 11 Sept. 6/6 I leave it to Oscar, the Scrabble-playing cat, to dredge up obscure words.
1967 Sci. Amer. Sept. 268/1 The Double-Crostic and games of the Scrabble type can be thought of as combinatorial play in which 26 elements (letters) are arranged into sets (words).
1977 B. Garfield Recoil x. 103 Anna made a word on the Scrabble board and watched him enter the score.
Draft additions 1993
ˈScrabbler n. one who plays Scrabble.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > other board games > [noun] > others > player in specific game
Scrabbler1954
1954 Orleans & Jacobson More Fun with Scrabble i. 7 This book is designed to give the Scrabbler more opportunities to enjoy his Scrabble board and tiles.
1978 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Dec. 1384/2 This innovative, intelligent and enjoyable dictionary will not serve for reading Hamlet or Burns..; scrabblers and crossword-puzzlers will find it uncooperative.
1989 Los Angeles Times 20 May v. 13/5 Higher-rated Scrabblers—like poker's master bluffers—frequently commit parricide with impunity.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1982; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
scrabblev.
/ˈskrab(ə)l/ 1.
a. intransitive. To make marks at random; to write in rambling or scrawling characters; to scrawl, scribble.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > handwriting or style of > write in specific style [verb (intransitive)] > illegibly or untidily
scrabble1537
scribble1573
to scrawl it1611
scribble-scrabble1847
1537 Bible (Matthew's) 1 Sam. xxi. 13 And he..raued in their handes and scrabled on the dores of the gate. [So 1611.]
1625 T. Jackson Treat. Originall of Vnbeliefe xlvii. 425 [They] frame such compositions of sacred lines, as men in phrenzie..do out of scrabled walls or painted cloaths.
a1628 J. Preston Serm. before His Majestie (1630) 86 We reckon men mad..when they scrabble vpon the walls.
1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 202 Scrabble, to write in an uncouth and unsightly manner; to make unmeaning marks, as boys often do with chalk on a wall or gate.
a1889 in Baring-Gould & Sheppard Songs of West (1905) 67 So with his finger dipp'd in blood, He scrabbled on the stones.
b. transitive. To write or depict (something) in a scrawling manner; also, to scrawl upon (something).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > handwriting or style of > write in specific style [verb (transitive)] > illegibly or untidily
scribblec1456
bescribble1582
scrawl1612
scratch1806
scribble-scrabble1847
scrabble1856
squiggle1942
1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain (1879) ii. v. 386 I do scrabble down things that tease me by running in my head, when I want to clear my brains.
1857 H. Miller Schools & Schoolmasters 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.
1883 Spectator 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.
1894 Cornhill 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.
a. intransitive. 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.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by habits or actions > habits and actions > [verb (intransitive)] > scratch about
scrat1556
scrabble1600
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > irregular movement or agitation > move irregularly or be agitated [verb (intransitive)] > scratch or scrape about
scrat1556
scrabble1600
1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique i. xv. 93 Cast out..fresh straw right ouer against the barne, where the pullen vse to scrabble.
1668 J. Howe Blessednesse of Righteous xiii. 240 Tis a low, Dunghil spirit; fit for nothing but to rake, and scrabble in the dirt.
1863 Wood in Intellectual Observer IV. 22 The mole..then scrabbled about until he came upon the rest of the worm.
1896 R. Kipling Seven Seas 74 Gangs of the prying gull That shriek and scrabble on the riven hatches.
1900 E. Glyn Visits of Elizabeth (1906) 62 Upon which Victorine looked coy, and began scrabbling with her toes on the parquet.
b. transitive. To make scratching movements with.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > actions or bird defined by > [verb (transitive)] > make scratching movements
scrabble1890
1890 W. H. Pollock in Longman's Mag. Aug. 406 The parrot..scrabbled his beak on the edge of his food-can.
3. intransitive. Of a person: To scramble on hands and feet; to stumble or struggle along; literal and figurative; also occasionally of an animal. Now somewhat rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > progressive motion > moving along with hands and feet or with body prone > move along with hands and feet or with body prone [verb (intransitive)] > scramble
scrawl1530
sprawl1582
scramblea1586
scrabble1638
scrubblec1854
1638 2nd Relat. Accidents Wydecombe 23 Then presently the rest of the people scrabled forth the Church as well as they could.
1666 J. Bunyan Grace Abounding §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.].
1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 167 Little-faith came to himself, and getting up made shift to scrabble on his way. View more context for this quotation
1738 Universal Spectator 11 Nov. 3/3 The Hog had scrabbled up Stairs, shook the Child out of its blankets, [and] kill'd it.
1742 J. Wesley Extract of Jrnl. 1 Mar. (1749) 32 The boat..was driven down among the rocks: on one of which we made shift to scrabble up.
1774 J. Adams in J. Adams & A. Adams Familiar 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?’
1812 J. J. Henry Accurate Acct. Campaign against Quebec 115 Scrabbling out of the cavity, without assistance.
1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 202 I have hard work to get a living, but I hope I shall manage to scrabble on.
1894 R. D. Blackmore Perlycross III. vi. 106 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.
1900 F. 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. transitive. To scratch or rake (something) up, off, out, etc. hurriedly; to obtain by scratching or raking about.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > removal or displacement > remove or displace [verb (transitive)] > remove or take away > remove or displace by scratching, scraping, stripping, or cutting
bestrip1065
file?c1225
to cut awayc1320
raze1419
screeve?1440
rakec1475
to scrape out, forth1530
scrata1560
scrabble1657
scamble1707
peel1787
the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (transitive)] > obtain or acquire in a certain way > by care or effort > by searching
findOE
forage1630
scrabble1657
to grope out1701
routc1776
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > uncovering > uncover or remove covering from [verb (transitive)] > strip or make bare > strip by scraping > a covering
scrapea1382
scratc1500
detract1607
scrabble1808
the world > movement > impelling or driving > pushing and pulling > push and pull [verb (transitive)] > pull > (as) with a rake
rakea1420
rive1440
fidder1611
scrabble1899
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > irregular movement or agitation > agitate [verb (transitive)] > make a hole by scratching or scraping
scrabble1905
1657 J. Bunyan Vind. Gospel Truths (1862) II. 203 How dost thou run about the bush, seeking to scrabble up an answer.
1658 F. Osborne Trad. Mem. Raigne Iames 85 in Hist. Mem. Reigns Elizabeth & Iames The King..casting himselfe upon the heap scrabled out the quantity of 2 or 3 hundred poundes.
1808 Sporting Mag. 32 82 The wool, with part of the skin scrabbled off.
1863 S. Baring-Gould Iceland 121 The snow had been scrabbled up by the puffed hands in the death agony.
1899 F. T. Bullen Way Navy 95 The trimmers must lie flat and scrabble the coal away as fast as it is pelted down.
1905 E. Nesbit Amulet i, in Strand Mag. May 587/2 It scrabbled a hasty hole in the sand.
5. intransitive. To struggle or scramble for (something).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > acquisition > obtain or acquire [verb (intransitive)] > try to obtain > by struggling with others
scamble1539
scramblec1590
scrabble1697
1697 J. Vanbrugh Provok'd Wife iii. 34 That Phantome of Honour, which men in every Age have so contemn'd, they have thrown it amongst the Women to scrable for.
1862 C. C. Robinson Dial. Leeds & Neighbourhood 399 A generous juvenile ‘scrammles’ a handful ‘o' peis’, which are instantly ‘scrabbled’ for.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.11794
n.21950v.1537