different between scrabbly vs scrabble

English

Etymology

scrabble +? -y

Adjective

scrabbly (comparative more scrabbly, superlative most scrabbly)

1. Characterised by scrabbling, or digging around.
   • 1992, G. W. Hawkes, Spies in the Blue Smoke (page 78)

     That night under the porch there was a scrabbly sound, like a dog in a gravel pile, going steadily on under barks and groans and screeches. Something was digging down deeper.
2. Covered in loose rocks or crumbling soil.
3. Difficult to negotiate; requiring scrambling.
4. Scribbly.
5. Thrown together; disorganized or slapdash.
6. Of poor quality; poorly maintained.
7. Characterized by sparse, stunted vegetation, infertile.
8. Stunted.
9. Sparse and scraggly.
10. Impoverished, hardscrabble
11. Rough, poor and uncultured.
12. Having a rough texture; scratchy.

English

Etymology

From Middle Dutch schrabbelen, frequentative of schrabben (“to scrape”), equivalent to scrab +? -le. More at scrape.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sk?æb?l/
• Rhymes: -æb?l

Verb

scrabble (third-person singular simple present scrabbles, present participle scrabbling, simple past and past participle scrabbled)

1. (intransitive) To scrape or scratch powerfully with hands or claws.
   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     […] 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.
2. (transitive) To gather hastily.
3. (intransitive) To move with difficulty by making rapid movements back and forth with the hands or paws.

   She was on her hands and knees scrabbling in the mud, looking for her missing wedding ring.

4. (intransitive) To scribble.

   • David […] scrabbled on the doors of the gate.

5. (transitive) To mark with irregular lines or letters; to scribble on.

   to scrabble paper

Derived terms

• hardscrabble
• scrabbler

Translations

See also

• scrab
• scramble
• scrap
• scrape
• scrapple (a sausage-like food)

Noun

scrabble (plural scrabbles)

1. A scramble.

   a scrabble for dear life

Anagrams

• cabblers, clabbers, crabbles

French

Noun

scrabble m (plural scrabbles)

1. (Scrabble) a play where all seven tiles are used; a bingo

Verb

scrabble

1. first-person singular present indicative of scrabbler
2. third-person singular present indicative of scrabbler
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of scrabbler
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of scrabbler
5. second-person singular imperative of scrabbler

Further reading

• “scrabble” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).