rabble Definition

rabble¹
noun

1. A noisy disorderly crowd or mob.

Thesaurus: mob, horde.
2. contemptuous
The lowest class of people.
Thesaurus: masses, riff-raff, hoi polloi, populace, proletariat, peasantry, commoners; Antonym: elite, aristocracy, nobility.
Form: the rabble

Etymology: 16c in this sense; 14c in obsolete sense ‘a pack of animals'.

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rabble²
noun

1. A device for stirring molten iron, etc in a furnace.

verb

rabbled, rabbling
1. To stir with a rabble.

Derivative: rabbler
noun

Etymology: 19c in this sense; 17c in obsolete sense ‘a shovel used by charcoal-burners': from French râble, from Latin rutabulum a poker.