v.
Pronunciation: ' gär-b ə l
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form: gar · bled ; gar · bling \ -b( ə -)li ŋ \
Etymology: Middle English garbelen, from Old Italian garbellare to sift, from Arabic gharbala, from Late Latin cribellare, from cribellum sieve; akin to Latin cernere to sift ― more at CERTAIN
Date: 15th century
1 archaic : CULL 1
2 : to sift impurities from
3 a : to so alter or distort as to create a wrong impression or change the meaning < garble a story> b : to introduce textual error into (a message) by inaccurate encipherment, transmission, or decipherment
– gar · bler \ -b( ə -)l ə r \ noun