scrabble
verb /ˈskræbl/
/ˈskræbl/
[intransitive] (especially British English)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they scrabble | /ˈskræbl/ /ˈskræbl/ |
| he / she / it scrabbles | /ˈskræblz/ /ˈskræblz/ |
| past simple scrabbled | /ˈskræbld/ /ˈskræbld/ |
| past participle scrabbled | /ˈskræbld/ /ˈskræbld/ |
| -ing form scrabbling | /ˈskræblɪŋ/ /ˈskræblɪŋ/ |
- to try to find or to do something in a hurry or with difficulty, often by moving your hands or feet about quickly, without much control
- scrabble around/about for something She scrabbled around in her bag for her glasses.
- scrabble for something He was scrabbling for a foothold on the steep slope.
- a sound like rats scrabbling on the other side of the wall
- scrabble + adv./prep. In his panic, he began scrabbling at the lock.
- The kids scrabbled up the slope.
Word Originmid 16th cent. (in the sense ‘make marks at random, scrawl’): from Middle Dutch schrabbelen, frequentative of schrabben ‘to scrape’.