verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To make holes; dig, poke, pick out. ambitransitive, dialectal
2. 2
   To feel around, as in the dark; grope. ambitransitive, dialectal
3. 3
   To work in an inefficient and laborious way; to do rough, dirty work. dialectal, intransitive
4. 4
   To loiter, hang around idly. dialectal, intransitive

Etymology

From grob (“to grub”) + -le (frequentative suffix). Compare grubble.

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