Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Scrawl

Scrawl

,
Verb.
I.
See
Crawl
.
[Obs.]
Latimer.

Scrawl

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Scrawled
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Scrawling
.]
[Probably corrupted from
scrabble
.]
To draw or mark awkwardly and irregularly; to write hastily and carelessly; to scratch; to scribble;
as, to
scrawl
a letter
.
His name,
scrawled
by himself.
Macaulay.

Scrawl

,
Verb.
I.
To write unskillfully and inelegantly.
Though with a golden pen you
scrawl
.
Swift.

Scrawl

(skra̤l)
,
Noun.
Unskillful or inelegant writing; that which is unskillfully or inelegantly written.
The left hand will make such a
scrawl
, that it will not be legible.
Arbuthnot.
You bid me write no more than a
scrawl
to you.
Gray.

Webster 1828 Edition


Scrawl

SCRAWL

, v.t.
1.
To draw or mark awkwardly and irregularly.
2.
To write awkwardly.

SCRAWL

, v.i.
1.
To write unskillfully and inelegantly.
Though with a golden pen you scrawl.
2.
To creep; to crawl. [This is from crawl, but I know not that it is in use.]

SCRAWL

, n.
1.
Unskillful or inelegant writing; or a piece of hasty bad writing.
2.
In New England, a ragged, broken branch of a tree, or other brush wood.

Definition 2024


scrawl

scrawl

English

Noun

scrawl (plural scrawls)

  1. An irregular, possibly illegible handwriting.
  2. A hastily, or carelessly written note etc.
Translations

Verb

scrawl (third-person singular simple present scrawls, present participle scrawling, simple past and past participle scrawled)

  1. (transitive) To write something hastily or illegibly.
  2. (intransitive) To write in an irregular or illegible manner.
  3. (intransitive) To write unskilfully and inelegantly.
    • Milton
      Though with a golden pen you scrawl.
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English scraulen (to crawl), itself an alteration of crawlen (to crawl). More at crawl.

Verb

scrawl (third-person singular simple present scrawls, present participle scrawling, simple past and past participle scrawled)

  1. To creep; crawl; (by extension) to swarm with crawling things
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Latimer to this entry?)

Anagrams