Crossword clues for garble
garble
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Garble \Gar"ble\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Garbled; p. pr. & vb. n. Garbling.] [Formerly, to pick out, sort, OF. grabeler, for garbeler to examine precisely, garble spices, fr. LL. garbellare to sift; cf. Sp. garbillar to sift, garbillo a coarse sieve, L. cribellum, dim. of cribrum sieve, akin to cernere to separate, sift (cf. E. Discern); or perh. rather from Ar. gharb[=a]l, gharbil, sieve.]
To sift or bolt, to separate the fine or valuable parts of from the coarse and useless parts, or from dros or dirt; as, to garble spices. [Obs.]
To pick out such parts of as may serve a purpose; to mutilate; to pervert; as, to garble a quotation; to garble an account.
Garble \Gar"ble\, n.
Refuse; rubbish. [Obs.]
--Wolcott.pl. Impurities separated from spices, drugs, etc.; -- also called garblings.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
early 15c., "to inspect and remove the dirt and dross from (spices)," from Anglo-French garbeler "to sift" (late 14c.) and directly from Medieval Latin and Italian garbellare, from Arabic gharbala "to sift and select spices," related to kirbal "sieve," perhaps from Late Latin cribellum, diminutive of Latin cribrum "sieve" (see crisis). Apparently the word was widespread among Mediterranean traders (compare Italian garbellare, Spanish garbillare "to sift grain").\n
\nFrom late 15c. in a general sense of "sort out the finer parts" of anything, "removal of what is objectionable," then "distort for some devious purpose or to give false impression;" especially "mix up, confuse or distort language" (1680s). Related: Garbled; garbling. In Middle English garbeler (Anglo-French garbelour) meant "official who garbles spices and sometimes also other dry goods" (early 15c.); it is attested from 1690s as "one who mixes up or mutilates words or language."\n
c.1500 of spices; by 1829 of language; from garble (v.).
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context obsolete English) refuse; rubbish 2 (context obsolete English) Impurities separated from spices, drugs, etc.; garblings. vb. 1 (context obsolete English) To sift or bolt, to separate the fine or valuable parts of from the coarse and useless parts, or from dross or dirt; as, to garble spices. 2 To pick out such parts of as may serve a purpose; to mutilate; to pervert; as, to garble a quotation; to garble an account. 3 To make false by mutilation or addition
WordNet
Usage examples of "garble".
He has learned to use acridine compounds in a way that lets him control more precisely just where he places the garble and what shape it takes.
And that old, specious, dressed-up, garbled, sea-sick ptomaine prancing about avidiously like an irremediable turkey gobbler with patent leather shoes on is my best friend.
Errors, caused perhaps by garbled interceptions or simple mistakes in the cryptanalysis, jarred these delicate analyses and delayed the work.
Its acoustics were poor, proper names often came out garbled, a chaotic calendar messed up the order of events but, on the whole, the colored dots did form a geomantic picture of sorts.
Respondent states, it is not contested, that when Helion beamed his brain information out from his body on the Solar Array to the Mercury Polar Station, the solar storms garbled the signal.
The stage turns were ridiculous, knockabout comedians whose garbled patter was all Greek to her, gaudily costumed female singers who were terrible, and male singers who were even worse.
I had already decided that there was another thing Great God Dangerfield had garbled: far from being an ancient race, the pigmies are neoteric, upstart usurpers who have appeared only recently on the scene to oust the peke and bear people.
Then, garbling incoherently, the dwarf drew from some fold of his tunic the small poignard given him by Rascogne de Sevigneois.
They seemed to be a breath away from a kiss when Prane, a garbled sound issuing from his throat, whirled away down the corridor.
A sorely garbled comment, closely resembling an oath, sufficed as a promise of compliance.
Then a new scream erupted, pained and garbled amid a yowl of yips and cries.
It was a record of a laser message that had come plowing through the Pak system, torn and attenuated and garbled by dust clouds and distance, in a language no longer spoken.
The merman shouted a command in a garbled language that CC was shocked to realize she could understand.
Like all other cops I knew, Morelli listened unconsciously, miraculously processing the garbled information.
I had been hearing them, in several garbled and fragmentary versions, from the servants, from my playfellows, year in and year out, from the time that I was old enough to understand any stories at all.