Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To wrangle; dispute or quarrel noisily.
  • noun A broil; a clamorous contest; a wrangle.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb rare To clamor; to contest noisily.
  • noun A broil; a noisy contest; a wrangle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete A broil; a noisy contest; a wrangle.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb argue over petty things

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Then they divided the gold and jewels between them; but a brabble arose between them concerning the enchanted saddle bags, Sálim saying, “I will have them;” and Salím, saying, “I will take them;” and they came to high words.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • When you asked one another (the first time) what was become of me; I was hard by you: at the most, within the distance of two yards length; and perceiving that you saw mee not, (being still so neere, and alwaies before you:) I went on, smiling to my selfe, to heare you brabble and rage against me.

    The Decameron 2004

  • [Illustration] "What monstrous brabble is this, you mad bitch?" he retorted, grunting as I bear-hugged his waist, shouldering the cuirass to squeeze it home.

    No Great Magic Fritz Leiber 1951

  • Beginning with that brabble over the “gray cloth gowne,” there must have gone on in Hudson's party the same bickerings and wranglings that went on in Greely's party, and the same development of small animosities into burning hatreds.

    Henry Hudson Janvier, Thomas A 1909

  • 'Braver hearts never beat in English breasts, yet do but mark how they brabble and clamour like clowns on a Saturday night.

    Micah Clarke His Statement as made to his three grandchildren Joseph, Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734 Arthur Conan Doyle 1894

  • But now Patricia confessed to a restless longing for the sight of city streets and the brabble of city noises.

    The Honorable Senator Sage-Brush Francis Lynde 1893

  • "I tell you I'm not to be mollified by any woman's brabble," blustered Lee.

    Janice Meredith Paul Leicester Ford 1883

  • Beginning with that brabble over the "gray cloth gowne," there must have gone on in Hudson's party the same bickerings and wranglings that went on in Greely's party, and the same development of small animosities into burning hatreds.

    Henry Hudson A Brief Statement of His Aims and His Achievements 1881

  • His wrath at their babble and petty brabble doubted that they did.

    Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith George Meredith 1868

  • His wrath at their babble and petty brabble doubted that they did.

    One of Our Conquerors — Volume 3 George Meredith 1868

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  • From Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution

    March 6, 2011

  • A scholar cries, “This is mere gabble!”

    Another says, “Nay, it is babble!”

    The conference is shattered

    And comity battered

    In a lexicographical brabble.

    September 7, 2018