drabble

verb, noun — 3 senses

drabble

verb

/ˈdɹæbəl/

Etymology Inherited from Middle English drabelan.

1

To wet or dirty, especially by dragging through mud.

  • That which eſpecialleſt nouriſht the moſt prime pleaſure in me, was after a ſtorme when they were driuen inſwarmes, and lay close peſtred together as thicke as they could packe; the next day following, if it were faire, they would cloud the whole skie with canuas, by ſpreading their drabled ſailes in the full clue abroad a drying, and make a brauer ſhew with them, then ſo many banners and ſtreamers diſplayed againſt the Sunne on a mountaine top.1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, pages 5–6:
2

To fish with a long line and rod.

  • to drabble for barbels
Derived terms
bedrabble, drabbler, drabble-tail

drabble

noun

Etymology From a game in Monty Python's Big Red Book in which the first player to write a novel wins; possibly derived in turn from the surname of the author Margaret Drabble.

1

A short fictional story, typically in fan fiction, sometimes exactly 100 words long.

Synonyms
flash fiction, flashfic, microfiction, short short story, spamfic, sudden fiction
Related terms
in, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.