scrabble
/ˈskɹæbəl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.04 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To move with difficulty by making rapid movements back and forth with the hands or paws.
Intransitive verb
noun
A scramble.
name
A board game in which players draw letter tiles and take turns to make interlocking words like a crossword, scoring points according to the letters played and their positions on the board.
Example Sentences
- "[…] there came no answer, except the echo of my own voice sounding hollow and far off down in the vault. So in despair I turned back to the earth wall below the slab, and scrabbled at it with my fingers, till my nails were broken and the blood ran out; having all the while a sure knowledge, like a cord twisted round my head, that no effort of mine could ever dislodge the great stone."
- "So he scraped and scratched and scrabbled and scrooged, then he scrooged again[.]"
- "The lane had not been designed for ponderous trucks. In the narrower parts we had to push our way along it between bushes and brambles which scrabbled along the sides as though they tried to pull us back."
- "“Oh. The perfect ending to the perfect-- [chuckles] I almost said evening. More like months, though, isn't it? Since we started scrabbling for coins because the damn government took away our-- every thing. They took everything. And the only thing that was left, you idiots either lost, gave away, ate, or just blew up and sank.”"
- "She was on her hands and knees scrabbling in the mud, looking for her missing wedding ring."
- "David […] scrabbled on the doors of the gate."
Etymology
From Middle Dutch schrabbelen, frequentative of schrabben (“to scrape”), equivalent to scrab + -le. More at scrape.