I. ˈrəbəl noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English robyl, rubel; perhaps akin to Middle English rubben to rub
1.
a. : broken fragments of stone and other matter resulting from the decay or destruction of a building
fortifications knocked into rubble — C.S.Forester
b. : a miscellaneous confused mass, pile, or group of usually broken or worthless things
lay in a pile of rubble , only this time there was more of it, additional gear having hit the deck — K.M.Dodson
lonely in his box the dead man lay, with his rubble of mourners behind him — Bruce Marshall
2.
a. : waterworn or rough broken stones or bricks used in coarse masonry or to fill up between the facing courses of walls
b. : masonry composed of rubble : rubblework
3.
a. : rough stone as it comes from the quarry
b. : the upper fragmentary and decomposed portion of a mass of stone especially in a quarry : brash
c. : a mass or layer of fragments of rock lying under alluvium
d. : talus I 2
4. : floating or grounded sea ice in hard roughly rounded blocks from two to five feet in diameter
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to reduce to rubble : destroy
the city has twice been rubbled in battle — H.G.Nickels