grabblers

Noun

grabbler (plural grabblers)

1. A person who grabs or grasps for something.
   • [He] once called diggers greedy gold grabblers.1861, Simpson Davison, The Gold Deposits of Australia, 2nd edition, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, page 164
2. (Southeastern, US) One who harvests food (such as tubers or peanuts) by digging it up with the hands.
   • a goober-grabbler (dated slang term for a person from the U.S. state of Georgia, literally, one who harvests peanuts by hand)
3. (Southeastern, US) A person who catches fish by feeling with the hand.
   • […] Darl had to grabble for her so I knew he could catch her because he is the best grabbler even with the mules in the way […]1930, William Faulkner, “Vardaman”, in As I Lay Dying, London: Chatto & Windus, published 1935
4. (Barbados, Southeastern, US) An implement used for grabbling (digging up) tubers.
   • […] then Bobtail he got his bull-tongue plow and his grabbler and pretty soon there was his potatoes.1948, “How Bobtail Beat the Devil”, in Richard Chase, editor, Grandfather Tales, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 89
5. (obsolete) An implement used to extract bodies from the water.
   • […] four Boats, and several Men in them, with Ropes and Grablers, searched the Thames a great part of Sunday, using all Opportunities to find the dead Body;1689, uncredited author, A Sad and Lamentable Account of the Strange and Unhappy Misfortune of Mr. John Temple, London