grabbler

== English == === Etymology === From grabble +‎ -er. === Pronunciation === (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɡɹæblɚ/, /ˈɡɹæbl̩ɚ/ (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɡɹæblə/, /ˈɡɹæbl̩ə/ === Noun === grabbler (plural grabblers) A person who grabbles. A person who grabs or grasps for something. (Southeastern US) One who harvests food (such as tubers or peanuts) by digging it up with the hands. (Southeastern US) A person who catches fish by feeling with the hand. 2002, Bil Lepp, Inept, Impaired, Overwhelmed: Tall Tales from West Virginia and Beyond, Charleston, WV: Quarrier Press, “Grabbled,” p. 66,[4] We were about to land our first monster catfish by hand. We were grabblers! A tool for grabbling. (Southeastern US, Barbados) An implement used for grabbling (digging up) tubers. (obsolete) An implement used to extract bodies from the water. 1767, The Annual Register, cited in Notes and Queries, 15 June, 1878, p. 478,[7] After diligent search had been made in the river for the child to no purpose, a twopenny loaf with a quantity of quicksilver put into it was set floating from the place where the child, it was supposed, had fallen in […] the loaf suddenly tacked about and swam across the river, and gradually sunk near the child, when both the child and loaf were immediately brought up with grabblers ready for that purpose. ==== Derived terms ==== goober-grabbler === References ===