rabble Hear it!

rabble¹ Definition

rab·ble (rabəl)

noun

a noisy, disorderly crowd; mob

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

transitive verb -·bled, -·bling

to attack as or by a rabble; mob

rabble¹ Idioms

the rabble

the common people; the masses: a term of contempt

rabble² Definition

rab·ble (rabəl)

noun

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

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

transitive verb -·bled, -·bling

to stir or skim with such a bar

rabble Synonyms

rabble

n.

mob, masses, riffraff; see crowd 1, people 3.

rabble Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • keep: Phil Marriott is the host of the Big Fun Breakfast - the guy who keeps the rabble in order.
  • lead: Pam went quickly back into a past life where she had been a ragged peasant soldier who led a rabble into a village.
  • disorganise: Much of the time London Critical Mass is what a judge might call a disorganized rabble.
  • disorganize: The earthquake of Black Wednesday reduced a party built on a will to power to a squabbling and disorganized rabble.
  • say: I would love aid in return it's inside and said rabble 's immediacy.
  • call: Who is John Mingay calling rabble, the staff, children or the parents?

Converse of subject

  • out: JOHN WHITE, trans. from Colmonell, adm. prior to Dec. 1686; outed by the rabble in 1689.

Adjective modifier

  • drunken: The drunken rabble will then proceed to a variety of different hostelries before going for a curry.
  • undisciplined: The Northern Alliance: West Ham - An undisciplined rabble in need of sponsorship dollars.
  • rowdy: One corner of it has been frequented by a rowdy rabble of retired friends for almost 15 years.
  • unruly: Despite a large proportion of the students being 'older ' we behaved like the unruly student rabble we would usually complain about!
  • broken: We must do it while we are still strong enough to negotiate, and not a broken rabble led by brutal war lords.

Modifies a noun

  • rouser: Oliver Reed is an English actor famous for being a rabble rousers.
  • http://www.oxtales.co.uk/forums: Escape the rabble http://www.oxtales.co.uk/forums FK will be getting rent form OUFC and rent from Lindleys catering.

Noun used with modifier

  • quot: Spare time quot rabble of amoral teams for the by the start.

Possessives

  • immediacy: I would love aid in return it's inside and said rabble's immediacy.

Preposition: in

  • order: Phil Marriott is the host of the Big Fun Breakfast - the guy who keeps the rabble in order.

Preposition: of

  • slave: Hence they became an organized unit, a nation and no longer a rabble of slaves.
  • people: Until the rabble of people start arriving in dribs and drabs to begin the duties for the day.
rabble Quotes

She is dying piece-meal of a sort of emotional anaemia. And round about there is a rabble of the filthy, sturdy, unkillable infants of the very poor.

—Pound, Ezra Loomis

Browse dictionary entries near rabble

  1. rabbitry
  2. rabbit punch
  3. rabbit fever
  4. rabbit ears
  5. rabbit
  6. rabbinism
  7. rabbinical
  8. Rabbinic
  9. rabbinate
  10. rabbin
  1. rabble-rouser
  2. rabblement
  3. Rabelais
  4. Rabelaisian
  5. Rabi
  6. rabid
  7. rabies
  8. raccoon
  9. raccoon dog
  10. race