- garble
- To mix up a story; to distort the facts in relating an occurrence or event. In very rare usage, to sort the good from the bad in a quantity of a commodity.
Ballentine's law dictionary. Anderson, W.S.. 1998.
garble
Look at other dictionaries:
Garble — Gar ble, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Garbled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Garbling}.] [Formerly, to pick out, sort, OF. grabeler, for garbeler to examine precisely, garble spices, fr. LL. garbellare to sift; cf. Sp. garbillar to sift, garbillo a coarse sieve, L.… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Garble — Gar ble, n. 1. Refuse; rubbish. [Obs.] Wolcott. [1913 Webster] 2. pl. Impurities separated from spices, drugs, etc.; also called {garblings}. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
garble — index cloak, falsify, misconstrue, misinterpret, misread Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 … Law dictionary
garble — (v.) early 15c., to inspect and remove refuse from (spices), from Anglo Fr. garbeler to sift (late 14c.), from M.L. and It. garbellare, from Arabic gharbala to sift and select spices, related to kirbal sieve, perhaps from L.L. cribellum, dim. of… … Etymology dictionary
garble — *misrepresent, falsify, belie Analogous words: distort, contort, warp (see DEFORM): misinterpret, misconstrue (see affirmative verbs at EXPLAIN) … New Dictionary of Synonyms
garble — [v] mix up, misrepresent belie, color, confuse, corrupt, distort, doctor, falsify, jumble, misinterpret, mislead, misquote, misstate, mutilate, obscure, pervert, slant, tamper with, twist, warp; concepts 59,63 Ant. decipher, order, pronounce,… … New thesaurus
garble — ► VERB ▪ reproduce (a message or transmission) in a confused and distorted way. ► NOUN ▪ a garbled account or transmission. DERIVATIVES garbler noun. ORIGIN originally in the sense «sift out, cleanse»: from an Arabic word meaning «sift» … English terms dictionary
garble — [gär′bəl] vt. garbled, garbling [ME garbelen < It garbellare, to sift < garbello, a sieve < Ar gharbāl, earlier ghirbāl < LL cribellum, small sieve, dim. of L cribrum, a sieve, akin to cernere: see CRITIC] 1. a) Obs. to sort by… … English World dictionary
garble — garbleable, adj. garbler, n. /gahr beuhl/, v., garbled, garbling, n. v.t. 1. to confuse unintentionally or ignorantly; jumble: to garble instructions. 2. to make unfair or misleading selections from or arrangement of (fact, statements, writings,… … Universalium
garble — verb a) To pick out such parts of as may serve a purpose; to mutilate; to pervert; as, to garble a quotation; to garble an account. The editor garbled the story. b) To make false by mutilation or addition … Wiktionary
garble — gar•ble [[t]ˈgɑr bəl[/t]] v. bled, bling, n. 1) to confuse unintentionally or ignorantly; jumble: to garble instructions[/ex] 2) to make misleading selections from or arrangement of (fact, statements, writings, etc.); distort: to garble a… … From formal English to slang
