I. ˈgärbəl, ˈgȧb- transitive verb
( garbled ; garbled ; garbling -b(ə)liŋ, -lēŋ ; garbles )
Etymology: Middle English garbelen, from Old Italian garbellare to sift, from Arabic gharbala to sift, ghirbāl sieve, from Late Latin cribellum small sieve — more at cribellum
1. archaic : to sort or pick out : select the best parts of : cull
2. : to remove dross or dirt from : refine ; specifically : to sift impurities from (as spices)
garbled Tellicherry pepper … sells for 1/4¢ a pound above the ungarbled — F.P.Tucker
3.
a. : to make misleading selections from : deliberately pervert : distort
their disputes on the merits of these arguments have not been edifying, since both sides have been apt to garble the question — Gilbert Ryle
b. : to mix up through accident or ignorance : mutilate , disarrange , jumble
statements … garbled into absurdity when copied into the newspapers — Havelock Ellis
specifically : to introduce textual error into (a message) by inaccurate enciphering, transmitting, or receiving
II. noun
( -s )
1. : worthless material : waste ; specifically : the impurities removed from spices
2. archaic : alloy
3. : an act or instance of garbling ; specifically : an error in the encipherment, transmission, or reception of a message
there is a garble in “8” and the following telegram corrects the garble — New York Times