transitive verb
-·bled, -·bling- Obs. to sort by sifting
- Rare to select the best parts of
- to suppress or distort parts of (a story, etc.) in telling, so as to mislead or misrepresent
- to confuse or mix up (a quotation, story, message, etc.) unintentionally, as through inaccurate copying or poor radio transmission
Origin of garble
Middle English garbelen from Italian garbellare, to sift from garbello, a sieve from Arabic gharb?l, earlier ghirb?l from Late Latin cribellum, small sieve, diminutive of Classical Latin cribrum, a sieve, akin to cernere: see critic the act or result of garbling
