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May 11, 2006

This week's theme
Yours to discover

This week's words
aphotic
plashy
procellous
scrabble
balsamic

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A.Word.A.Day--scrabble

scrabble (SKRAB-uhl)

verb tr., intr.:
1. To scratch or scrape, as with claws or hands.
2. To struggle to obtain something not easily available.
3. To climb over something hastily or clumsily.
4. To scribble.

noun:
The act of scratching, scraping, struggling, scribbling, climbing, etc. frantically, desperately, or with difficulty.

[From Dutch schrabbelen, from schrabben (to scrape or scratch). Earliest documented use: 1537.]

"The chances are slim to non-existent that enough votes could be scrabbled together to destroy Prodi's lead of 25,000 seats in the Chamber."
Michael Braun; You Thought You Had Got Rid of Me?; Spiegel (Hamburg, Germany); Apr 13, 2006.

See more usage examples of scrabble in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

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