Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Confusion; uproar.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Tumult; uproar; disorder; disturbance; commotion.
  • To throw into confusion or disorder; cause a tumult or disturbance in.

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

  • noun obsolete Tumult; disturbance; disorder.

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

  • noun Confusion.
  • noun Uproar.

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

  • noun a state of commotion and noise and confusion

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Obsolete French garbouil, from Old French, from Old Italian garbuglio, perhaps from Latin bullīre, to boil.]

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Examples

  • Words such as "garboil" (a kind of petroleum made from trash) lend a frighteningly vital immersion into this eco-nightmare.

    SFFaudio 2010

  • a vanishing minimum; and, but for this recent 'garboil' (as our old writers put it) we might have said that, under differences of nomenclature, all the Kirks are united at last, in the only union worth having, that of peace and goodwill.

    Historical Mysteries Andrew Lang 1878

  • Then in '82 there had been the Egyptian garboil I mentioned a moment ago; Joe Wolseley had asked for me point-blank, and with the press applauding and the Queen approving and Elspeth bursting into tears as I rogered her farewell, what the blazes could I do but fall in?

    Watershed 2010

  • Then in '82 there had been the Egyptian garboil I mentioned a moment ago; Joe Wolseley had asked for me point-blank, and with the press applauding and the Queen approving and Elspeth bursting into tears as I rogered her farewell, what the blazes could I do but fall in?

    Flashman And The Tiger Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1999

  • Giojoso fell to trembling; behind him, Rinolfo, the cause of all this garboil, stared with round big eyes; whilst my mother, all a-quiver, clutched at her bosom and looked at me fearfully, but spoke no word.

    The Strolling Saint; being the confessions of the high and mighty Agostino D'Anguissola, tyrant of Mondolfo and Lord of Carmina in the state of Piacenza Rafael Sabatini 1912

  • And even had he done so it is odds none would have heard him, for the late calm was of a sudden turned to garboil.

    Mistress Wilding Rafael Sabatini 1912

  • While they had "nourished the garboil" in Scotland, fanned the flame, they professed to believe that

    John Knox and the Reformation Andrew Lang 1878

  • Impertinently a barrette on muscadet and topside a gaga synchronal lomatia tippler to depersonalization the scolytidae of the estivation garboil in resale.

    Rational Review 2009

  • “nourished the garboil” in Scotland, fanned the flame, they professed to believe that France was aiming, through Scotland, at England.

    John Knox and the Reformation Lang, Andrew, 1844-1912 1905

  • "The fight is fought and lost; there's an end to the garboil.

    Mistress Wilding Rafael Sabatini 1912

Comments

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  • Parboiled gargoyle?

    July 24, 2009

  • Debating, according to Hoyle,

    Exemplifies cool reason's toil.

    But reason is scant

    In goblinesque rant;

    It's heated and hate-fueled garboil.

    September 27, 2017