Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of scrabble.
  • noun A sound or motion that scrabbles.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • There was some "scrabbling," as Jennie expressed it, to dress, get their possessions together, and get away from the hotel.

    Ruth Fielding in the Great Northwest Or, The Indian Girl Star of the Movies Alice B. Emerson

  • The ex-diplomat also said officials had been left "scrabbling" for evidence of WMD as US troops prepared for invasion.

    TUMEKE! 2009

  • The ex-diplomat also said officials had been left "scrabbling" for evidence of WMD as US troops prepared for invasion.

    BBC (UK) Homepage main promotional content 2009

  • The ex-diplomat said officials had been left "scrabbling" for evidence of WMD as US troops prepared for invasion.

    BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition 2009

  • Sir Christopher Meyer did, however, state that "officials had been left" scrabbling "for evidence of WMD as US troops prepared for invasion."

    Charon QC 2009

  • They were left "scrabbling" around to try and find a "smoking gun" in a short period of time, he said, while the UK and US had never "recovered" from the fact that no WMD were found after the invasion.

    BBC (UK) Homepage main promotional content 2009

  • “Antea!” he called, and made after it, scrabbling through the falling stone and bone in pursuit of the white caribou.

    Caribou House « A Fly in Amber 2009

  • Picture to yourself the horror of the several stodgy British military characters who, hearing an unwonted scrabbling and clucking on the roof, looked out, and there saw Janie on all fours, a banana in each fist for bait, chasing a squirrel, and alternately cursing and cooing in English and Malay.

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

  • They do have proper, old-fashioned childhood fun, hiding and scrabbling and getting mucky.

    How we nearly lost the plot Lia Leendertz 2010

  • For example, one chap is scrabbling around trying to make sense of station adjustments.

    Software Quality in Climate Research | Serendipity 2009

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