scrabble

Everyday

1. To scratch or grope about quickly with your hands or claws, looking for something or trying to hold on: he scrabbled in his pocket for a coin. tree →
2. To struggle or hurry to get something. tree →
3. (Scrabble, a name) a board game in which players make words with letter tiles and score points. tree →

In the lessons

Stories: animals scrabble at the earth; Mole scrabbles and digs his way up from his home in the first chapter of The Wind in the Willows; Alice scrabbles to keep hold. Everyday: playing Scrabble at home, a good game for spelling and maths (adding scores, double and triple word squares).

Examples

• Mole scrabbled and scraped his way up to the sunlight. tree →
• The dog scrabbled at the door. tree →
• She scrabbled in her bag for her keys. tree →
• The kitten scrabbled up the curtain. tree →
• We played Scrabble after dinner. tree →
• «Quiz» on a triple word score earned lots of points in Scrabble. tree →
• He scrabbled for a handhold on the rocks. tree →

Note

Double b. The game is a brand name, written with a capital S. Similar verbs: scramble, scratch, grope. Not the same as «scribble» (to write messily).

In Jewish tradition

To scratch or claw at something, here at the doors. David pretends madness before the Philistine king.

Interpretation. The story is read as David's quick cleverness to escape danger in Gath, and the psalm tradition links it to his trust in God.

Examples

• And he changed his demeanour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. (Prophets 1SA.21.14, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Double b. The game is a brand name, written with a capital S. Similar verbs: scramble, scratch, grope. Not the same as «scribble» (to write messily).