rabble

(rab′əl)

noun

a noisy, disorderly crowd; mob

Origin: ME rabel < ? or akin to ML rabulus, brawling, noisy < L rabula, a brawling advocate < rabere: see rabid

transitive verb rabbled, rabbling

to attack as or by a rabble; mob

noun

an iron bar used to stir and skim molten iron in puddling

Origin: Fr râble < OFr roable < ML rotabulum, poker < L rutabulum, stirrer < ruere, to rake up < IE base *reu-, to dig up > rid, rubble

transitive verb rabbled, rabbling

to stir or skim with such a bar

See rabble in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

A tumultuous crowd; a mob.
The lowest or coarsest class of people. Often used with the.
A group of persons regarded with contempt: “After subsisting on the invisible margins of the art scene … he was ‘discovered’ in the mid-80's, along with a crowd of like-minded rabble from the East Village” (Richard B. Woodward).

Origin:

Origin: Middle English

noun

An iron bar used to stir and skim molten iron in puddling.
Any of various similar tools or mechanically operated devices used in roasting or refining furnaces.

transitive verb rab·bled, rab·bling, rab·bles

To stir or skim (molten iron) with an iron bar.

Origin:

Origin: French râble, fire shovel

Origin: , from Old French roable

Origin: , from Medieval Latin rotābulum

Origin: , from Latin rutābulum

Origin: , from rutus

Origin: , past participle of ruere, to rake up, tumble down

Related Forms: