garble
verb
- distort
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈɡɑː(ɹ)bəl/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English garbelen, from Anglo-Norman garbeler (“to sift”), from Medieval Latin garbellare (or a similar Italian word), from Arabic غَرْبَلَ (ḡarbala, “to sift”).
- Confused or unintelligible speech.
“The FCC says it decided to attempt standardization of VHF receivers after getting "thousands of complaints" from disgruntled boatmen who found their sets brought in mostly a lot of garble and static.”
- Refuse; rubbish.
- Mutilation.
“Did not the lady smile upon the garble”
- Impurities separated from spices, drugs, etc.; garblings.
verb
Etymology: From Middle English garbelen, from Anglo-Norman garbeler (“to sift”), from Medieval Latin garbellare (or a similar Italian word), from Arabic غَرْبَلَ (ḡarbala, “to sift”).
- To pick out such parts (of a text) as may serve a purpose not intended by the original author; to mutilate; to pervert.
“to garble a quotation”
“to garble an account”
- To make false by mutilation or addition.
“The editor garbled the story.”
- To corrupt; to make unreadable, incomprehensible, or unintelligible.
- To sift or bolt; to separate the fine or valuable parts of (something) from the coarse and useless parts, or from dross or dirt.
“to garble spices”