rabble
pronunciation
How to pronounce rabble in British English:
UK [ˈræbl]
How to pronounce rabble in American English:
US [ˈræbəl]
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- Noun:
- a disorderly crowd of people
- disparaging terms for the common people
Word Origin
- rabble (n.1)
- c. 1300, "pack of animals," possibly related to Middle English rablen "to gabble, speak in a rapid, confused manner," probably imitative of hurry, noise, and confusion (compare Middle Dutch rabbelen, Low German rabbeln "to chatter"). Meaning "tumultuous crowd of vulgar, noisy people" is from late 14c.; applied contemptuously to the common or low part of any populace from 1550s.
- rabble (n.2)
- iron bar for stirring molten metal, 1864, from French râble, from Old French roable, from Latin rutabulum "rake, fire shovel," from ruere to rake up (perhaps cognate with Lithuanian raju "to pluck out," German roden "to root out").
Example
- 1. She stumbles upon drucker 's 1973 book , and it helps her turn the rabble into a team .
- 2. It does , however , raise the question of why the army refused to use emergency powers last year to eject the pad from bangkok 's main airport-arguably a graver security threat than a rabble at a roundabout .
- 3. Those below have been marginalised from politics , except as masses to be roused for some cause , or as a rabble with which to frighten a narrow and fragile bourgeoisie .
- 4. Using the fine word " resistance " in reference to the rabble of a cornered tyrant seems to me to be a blow to common sense , particularly when we have heard reports that point to the possession by this tyrant of the dirty weapon par excellence , napalm .
- 5. But foreign investors are still spooked by the chaos unleashed by the people 's alliance for democracy ( pad ) , the rabble that occupied the airports and the government 's offices .