nobble
UK/ˈnɒbl̩/
nobble verb: to injure or obstruct intentionally.
Verb
nobble (third-person singular simple present nobbles, present participle nobbling, simple past and past participle nobbled)
- To injure or obstruct intentionally.
- Near-synonyms: hobble, hamper, hinder, impede, embarrass, disable
- After 12 successive league wins[…]Charlton were nobbled by the First Division's no-hopers, who profited from a goalkeeping bloomer then held on to their lead for dear life.2000 March 12, Stuart Barnes, “Swindon stunner for Curbishley”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
- To gain influence over by corrupt means or intimidation.
- Unlike "noble" vigilantes, the police and court facilities which exist are said to be inefficient and corrupt, and juries are said to be easily "nobbled" or intimidated.2000, Italo Pardo, Morals of Legitimacy: Between Agency and System, page 122
- For example jury trials were reformed to allow majority verdicts, so that criminals could less easily nobble them.2002, Kevin Jefferys, Labour Forces: From Ernie Bevin to Gordon Brown, page 107
- To steal.
- To tamper with (typically a racehorse or greyhound) in order to prevent it from winning a race.
- Every design that villainy could suggest was had recourse to in the hopes of nobbling Wild Dayrell; but never being left for an hour by either his trainer or jockey, he escaped the intended 'coopering', even when the lynchpins of the wheels of his van had been tampered with.1864, Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes, volume 8, page 110
- Synonyms:
- cooper
Noun
nobble (plural nobbles)
- A deliberate act of injury or obstruction.
nobble meaning in Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
nobble in Urdu
- بےایمانی کر کے جیتنا, دھوکا دینا
nobble in Bengali
- মনোযোগ আকর্ষণ করা, অন্যায়ভাবে, অসৎপন্থায় কিছু অর্জন করা
nobble in Malayalam
- corrupt, bribe, suborn
- അവിഹിതമാർഗ്ഗത്തിലൂടെ സ്വാധീനിക്കുക, കെെക്കൂലി കൊടുക്കുക, കോഴകൊടുക്കുക, കെെക്കൂലി കൊടുത്തു വശത്താക്കുക, അവിഹിതമായി പണം കൊടുക്കുക, അവിഹിതമായി സ്വാധീനിക്കുക
- drug, dope, tamper with
- മയക്കുമരുന്നു കൊടുക്കുക, മയക്കുമരുന്നുകൊണ്ടു ബോധം കെടുത്തുക, ലഹരിപിടിപ്പിക്കുക, ചീത്തയാക്കുക, പിഴപ്പിക്കുക, ഇടപെടൽ നടത്തുക
- thieve, steal, embezzle
- മോഷ്ടിക്കുക, കക്കുക, വർഗ്ഗിക്കുക, തസ്കരിക്കുക, മോഷണം നടത്തുക, ഇസ്ക്കുക
- waylay, accost, detain
- വെല്ലുവിളിയോടെ നേരിടുക, വഴിയിൽ, ഒളിച്ചിരുന്നാക്രമിക്കുക, പിടിച്ചു വയ്ക്കുക, തടഞ്ഞു വയ്ക്കുക, തടഞ്ഞു നിർത്തുക
Examples of nobble in a sentence
- Google has come out fighting after Twitter claimed that changes to its search engine nobble results to favour Google+, damaging the internet.2012 January 11, Gavin Clarke, “Google attacks Twitter's search bias claim”, in The Register:
- Here, though, Picot's overbearing power, and the fact that the bishop was an absentee, meant that the sheriff could use threats to "nobble" the judges.2012, Mark Hagger, William: King and Conqueror, page 75:
Synonyms of nobble
Forms of nobble
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | nobbles |
| present participle | nobbling |
| past participle | nobbled |
| past | nobbled |
| Noun | |
| plural | nobbles |
Origin of nobble
Origin obscure. Possibly from nob + -le, or perhaps an alteration of nubble. Compare also dialectal knobble (“to hit or strike”).
Words formed from nobble
Words that rhyme with nobble
Questions about nobble
- What does nobble mean?
- Nobble means to injure or obstruct intentionally.
- What is nobble in Urdu?
- Nobble in Urdu is بےایمانی کر کے جیتنا, دھوکا دینا. See Nobble meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use nobble in a sentence?
- Google has come out fighting after Twitter claimed that changes to its search engine nobble results to favour Google+, damaging the internet.
- What part of speech is nobble?
- Nobble can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce nobble?
- Nobble is pronounced /ˈnɒbl̩/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of nobble?
- The past tense of nobble is nobbled.
Words near nobble in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nobble (page history and authors); nobble (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nobble (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nobble (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-nobble.ogg.
Cite this entry: “nobble.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nobble. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.