Gribble

//ˈɡɹɪ.bəl// adj, name, noun

adj, name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of various wood-boring marine crustaceans of the genus Limnoria, especially Limnoria lignorum, which cause damage to underwater wooden structures.
  2. 2
    A piece of deep-fried batter left over from frying fish, sometimes sold with chips. Devon, UK, in-plural

    "The study also reveals that Wigan likely calls excess batter bits ‘Scraps’ or ‘Bits’, compared to the south west and east of the UK who are more likely to order ‘Gribbles’ or ‘Scrumps’."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Tending to grumble; grumpy, irascible.

    "You're always gribble first thing in the morning."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Example

More examples

"You're always gribble first thing in the morning."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Compare grub, from Proto-Germanic *grub- (“to dig”).

Etymology 2

Possibly related to grumble.

Etymology 3

Uncertain.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.