▪ I. rabble, n.1 (and a.)
(ˈræb(ə)l)
Forms: 4 rabel, -ul, 6 rabell, -il(l, -yll, rabbell, 6–7 rable, 6– rabble.
[Possibly connected with rabble v.1, the root-notion being that of hurry and confusion; but the respective dates of n. and vb. make the relationship somewhat uncertain. In early examples the idea of a string or series seems to be prominent.]
A. n.
† 1. A pack, string, swarm (of animals). Obs.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1703 [The dogs] runnen forth in a rabel. Ibid. 1899 Renaud com..& alle þe rabel..ryȝt at his helez. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. ix. 29 The rawk vocit swannis in a rabyll. a 1529 Skelton P. Sparowe 1313 He brought out a rable Of coursers and rounses. 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. v. 909 Flies, Butterflies, Gnats, Bees, and all the rabbles Of other Insects. |
2. a. A tumultuous crowd or array of people, a disorderly assemblage, a mob.
| 1513 Douglas æneis xiii. iv. 63 In lang rabill the wemen..fled. a 1529 Skelton E. Rummyng 382 Now in cometh another rabell. Fyrst one with a ladell [etc.]. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. i. (Arb.) 69, I sawe..cum out of London..a great rable of meane and light persons. 1667 Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 349 At last the rabble broke up and so I away. 1713 Berkeley Guard. No. 39 ¶5 They seemed rather a confused rabble than a regular army. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters III. 332, I narrowly escaped the insolence..of an inraged rabble. 1840 Thirlwall Greece VII. 249 He was accompanied..by a mixed rabble of strangers and disfranchised citizens. 1858 Froude Hist. Eng. III. xiv. 194 He went unwillingly, with followers little better than a rabble. |
b. Applied contemptuously to a class or body of persons, imagined as collected in a mob.
| 1529 More Dyaloge iii. Wks. (1557) 228/1 That we should not haue such a rabell [of priests]. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 249 b, Monkes and Freers and all that relygious rabbell. 1652–62 Heylin Cosmogr. i. (1682) 285 That rabble of 39 Kings..mentioned by Hector Boetius. 1671 J. Webster Metallogr. ii. 29 The numerous, and almost innumerable rabble of the School-men. 1741 Warburton Div. Legat. ii. iv, Jupiter, Mercury, Bacchus, Venus, Mars, and the whole rabble of licentious deities. 1792 Burke Pres. St. Aff. Wks. 1826 VII. 100 To class himself with that rabble of murderers. 1847 Tennyson Princ. vi. 290 To mob me up with all The soft and milky rabble of womankind. |
c. the rabble, the common, low, or disorderly part of the populace († or of a company); the mob.
| 1553 Bale Vocacyon in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) I. 357 Than was all the rable of the shippe..called to the reckeninge. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 215 b, The meane and inferiour subjectes, even the rascall rable and multitude. 1635 N. R. Camden's Hist. Eliz. i. 101 A few of the rabble of the people raising a tumult. 1676 Marvell Mr. Smirke Wks. 1875 IV. 80 None but the noisy rabble love to hear anything scurrilous or railing. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 18 ¶6 It is not the Taste of the Rabble, but of Persons of the greatest Politeness. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab vii. 166 His name unheard, Save by the rabble of his native town. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets Ser. i. iii. 86 Theognis complains that the rabble rule the state with monstrous laws. |
| transf. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. p. xlvi, As to the Rabble of Readers..Water would have served their turns as well. |
d. Without article: Persons of the lowest class.
| 1726 De Foe Hist. Devil ii. v. (1840) 235 The devil makes use of scoundrels and rabble, beggars and vagabonds. 1734 T. Sheridan in Swift's Lett. (1768) IV. 67 You live in Dublin among a parcel of rabble. 1856 Mrs. Stowe Dred II. xxxii. 321 There is always an abundance of excitable rabble to be got for a drink of whiskey. |
3. A disorderly collection, a confused medley (of things). a. Of material things. rare.
| 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) p. xxxiii, The boorde or table, With dishes charged twentie in a rable. 1555 R. Smith Let. in Foxe A. & M. (1583) 1699/2 Builde they neuer so strongly: yet downe shall theyr rabble fall. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 40 A wonderfull rabble of wormeeaten pictures. 1803 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. I. 431 A rabble of books of all ages, sizes [etc.]. |
b. Of immaterial things. (In later use only with direct reference to sense 2.)
| 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Rom. 14 All oure desyres of transitorye pleasures, whose whole rable maye well be called the body of synne. 1562 Jewel Apol. Ch. Eng. v. ix. (Parker Soc.) 89 Pardons, crosses, censings, and an endless rabble of ceremonies. 1633 Hart Diet of Diseased Introd. 26 A rabble of remedies, which may so easily be abused. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 401 Reason..overpowered by the rabble of appetites, passions, and opinions. 1847 H. Rogers Ess. I. v. 259 A seditious rabble of doubts. 1861 Emerson Soc. & Solit., Old Age Wks. (Bohn) III. 134 We live in youth amidst the rabble of passions. |
† 4. a. A long string or series of words, etc., having little meaning or value. Obs.
| c 1388 Wyclif's Sel. Wks. III. 466 Nouþer God ne alle his seintus willen heren men for no rabul of wordis, ne curiouse florischynge in ryme. 1545 Brinklow Lament. (1874) 88 A rable of vncommaunded tradicions. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiii. (Arb.) 271 Such a rable of scholastical precepts which be tedious. 1641 Earl of Monmouth tr. Biondi's Civil Warres v. 170 Hee told them a long rabble of reasons, why hee had sate downe in that place. 1656 ― tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. vi. (1674) 10 So horribly tedious did that rabble of discourse appear. |
b. A rigmarole. (Cf. rabble v.1) Now dial.
| 1592 Chettle Kind-harts Dr. (1841) 20 When I had read this rabble, wherein I founde little reason, I laide it by. c 1600 Forbes Defence 65 (Jam.) Such doting dreames..fitter to bee an addition to rables..then to be reputed profound pointes of Christian wisedome. 1649 J. H. Motion to Parl. Adv. Learn. 28 This would amount to a long rabble, and degenerate into some Satyre or Pasquill. 1876 Mid-Yorksh. Gloss. s.v., He made sike a rabble on it, I couldn't understand a word he said. |
c. Hurried or confused talk or reading.
| 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. iv. 34 To hear the rabble and brabble, you'd call the case Fused and confused past human finding out. |
5. Comb., as rabble-driver; rabble-charming, rabble-chosen, rabble-courting adjs.
| 1686 South Serm. (1693) 455 With this powerfull, senseless Engine the Rabble-driver shall be able to carry all before him. a 1716 Ibid. (1727) VI. 56 The Rabble-charming words, which carry so much Wild-fire wrapt up in them. 1839 Times 10 Apr., Wounded the pride of this rabble-courting despot. 1853 T. N. Talfourd Castilian ii. iii, A council rabble⁓chosen. |
B. attrib. passing into adj.
1. Of persons: Forming a rabble; of or belonging to the rabble.
| 1549 Latimer 3rd Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 93 You my rable people that are wronged in the world, aske of my father in your distresses. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. lxxix. (1674) 107 To procure them that number of followers of the rabble sort of people. a 1683 Oldham Wks. (1685) 9 Let rabble Souls..Stoop their vile Necks. 1778 Heroic Ep. to Unfort. Monarch 7 Silent, and watchful of the rabble-band. 1831 Lincoln Herald 23 Dec. 4/5 This old war-cry of the Newark blues, or rather the rabble part of them. 1885 Lowe Bismarck I. 548 His only resource left was..to concentrate his rabble army around..Sedan. |
2. Of things, actions, etc.: Characteristic of, appropriate to, the rabble.
| 1603 Florio Montaigne ii. xii. (1632) 317 In the rabble case-canvasing of our plea-courts. 1692 Dryden Cleomenes Pref., To gratifie the barbarous Party of my Audience, I gave them a short Rabble-Scene. a 1734 North Exam. (1740) 306 How could any one of English Education..swallow such a low Rabble Suggestion. 1780 Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thale 10 June, To burn the jails..was a good rabble trick. 1848 A. Jameson in Mrs. Macpherson Mem. (1878) 248 There are some disturbances here..mere rabble-work. |
3. rabble-fish, the worthless or less valuable fish of a catch. (Cornwall.)
| 1862 Couch Fishes I. 85 Other fishes..are collectively known by the name of rabble-fish, as being rejected from the market. 1880–4 Day Fishes Gt. Brit. II. 335 Things are altered now, much of this rabble-fish going to Billingsgate and other large inland markets. |
▪ II. rabble, n.2
(ˈræb(ə)l)
Also 7 rabil, 9 ravel.
[a. F. râble, earlier roable, rouable:—med.L. rotabulum, L. rutābulum fire-shovel, f. ruĕre to rake up.]
† 1. A kind of shovel used by charcoal-burners to remove the covering from the burned pile. Obs.
| 1664 Evelyn Sylva xxx. 102 Two or three days it will only require for cooling, which..they assist, by taking now off the outward covering with a Rabil or Rubber. |
2. ‘A kind of rake’ (Halliwell).
3. An iron bar sharply bent at the end, used for stirring and skimming molten metal in puddling; also, a steam-pipe used for the same purpose.
| 1864 Q. Jrnl. Sc. I. 493 A stirring tool called a rabble by which the workman stirs the melted iron. 1868 Joynson Metals 67 The steam tube, or ‘rabble’, being bent on the end, so as to inject the steam on the liquid metal. 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 385 The slag is now drawn with a rabble into molds prepared for it. 1881 Greener Gun 221 The scraps were then cut into pieces of the same size, and placed in a furnace until of a white heat, gathered into a bloom with ravels, and the mass placed under a tilt hammer. |
4. Comb., as rabble-arm = sense 3.
| 1905 Electrochem. & Metall. Industry May 194/1 The upper four hearths are provided with two rabble-arms each, the sixth and seventh with three rabble-arms, in order to increase the stirring and discharge rather on one side of the furnace. |
▪ III. rabble, v.1 Obs. exc. dial.
(ˈræb(ə)l)
Forms: 5–6 rable, 8 Sc. raible, 9 rabble.
[= Du. rabbelen to speak indistinctly, (L)G. rabbeln to talk hurriedly and thoughtlessly; also, to struggle, wriggle, Sw. rabbla upp to rattle over.]
1. a. trans. To utter (words or speech) in a rapid confused manner. Also with forth, off, out, over. b. intr. To speak or read in this fashion; to gabble. (Cf. rabble n.1 4.)
| 14.. Prov. Solomon in MS. Cantab. Ff. ii. 38 lf. 24 (Halliw.) Let thy tunge..rable not wordes recheles owt of reson. c 1410 Love Bonavent. Mirr. xviii. 44 (Sherard MS.) In the seyinge of the pater noster they..rablen it forth with oute deuocioun. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 53 [Do] not rable them out togyther as though ye wolde say them all at ones. 1583 Foxe A. & M. 1663/2 Thus father Traues you may see my rashnes to rable out the scriptures without purpose, ryme, or reason. 1627 J. Carter Plain Expos. 60 The Lords prayer is rabled ouer without..vnderstanding or reuerence. 1785 Burns Holy Fair xvii, Wee Miller..Orthodoxy raibles. 1869– In various northern glossaries. |
2. intr. To work in a hurried slovenly manner. dial. b. trans. To rattle up.
| 1862 Mrs. H. Wood Channings i. 5 ‘It looks as though it had been rabbled up for the purpose’, cried Hurst in his schoolboy phraseology. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Rabble,..in sewing, to take too long stitches, and without due care to finish the work neatly. 1880 Jamieson's Dict., Rabble,..to do any kind of work in a careless and hurried manner. |
▪ IV. rabble, v.2
(ˈræb(ə)l)
Also 8 rable.
[f. rabble n.1 2.]
1. trans. To attack or assail (a person or his property) as, along with, or by means of, a rabble; to mob. to rabble out of, to drive from (a place) in this way.
The word was especially used to describe the attacks made upon the Episcopalian clergy in Scotland by bands of Presbyterians in the last few days of 1688 and early months of 1689, and is frequently employed by historical writers in reference to this.
| 1644 Howell Twelve Treat. (1661) 132 The same kind of riotous Rascals which rabbled the K. out of Town. 1690 Acc. Pres. Persec. Ch. Scot. 26 Some who were then very active in rabbling the Clergy. 1694 Gibson in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 227 He fail'd not to cast in his mite when the Episcopal Clergie were rabbl'd. c 1714 Culloden Papers (1815) 336 The magistrates thought fitt to stirre up a mob and rable them. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. vii, The aughty⁓nine, when I was rabbled by the collegeaners. 1860 A. L. Windsor Ethica iv. 199 He was continually receiving missives threatening to rabble his house. |
2. intr. To become a rabble. Also, to behave as a rabble; to go off as a rabble.
| 1813 Sir R. Wilson Priv. Diary II. 448 We rabbled, while he [the enemy] never loosened his solidity. a 1861 T. Winthrop John Brent (1883) ix. 76 He dismissed his audience with an..injunction to keep closer to the train..and not be ‘rabbling off to catch grasshoppers’. 1970 O. Chadwick Victorian Church II. vi. 355 The agitators began to disturb and rabble at services. |
Hence ˈrabbled ppl. a.
| 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. IV. 186 William..thought that the rabbled curates had been hardly treated. |
▪ V. rabble, v.3
(ˈræb(ə)l)
Also ravel.
[f. rabble n.2]
trans. To stir, skim, or rake with a rabble.
| 1860 C. Tomlinson Useful Arts & Manuf. 2nd Ser. ii. 17 The door of the furnace is removed, and the liquid mass well rabbled or stirred. 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 392 Just before tapping it is rabbled for five minutes. 1894 Bowker in Harper's Mag. Jan. 420 The molten metal is thoroughly stirred, or ‘rabbled’ to make it uniform. 1923 Discovery Nov. 291/2 The other furnace..in which the flames actually play over the surface of the mundic which is ‘ravelled’ from the side by a pole some eight or nine feet long. |