Scrawl
[skrɔːl] or [skrɔl]
Definition
(v. i.) See Crawl.
(v. t.) To draw or mark awkwardly and irregularly; to write hastily and carelessly; to scratch; to scribble; as, to scrawl a letter.
(v. i.) To write unskillfully and inelegantly.
(n.) Unskillful or inelegant writing; that which is unskillfully or inelegantly written.
Edited by Gene
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Scribble, scrabble, scratch, write carelessly.
v. n. Scribble, scrabble.
n. Scribble, scratch, careless writing.
Typed by Avery
Definition
n. (U.S.) brushwood.
v.t. and v.i. to scrape mark or write irregularly or hastily.—n. irregular or hasty writing: bad writing: a broken branch of a tree: the young of the dog-crab.—n. Scrawl′er.—adj. Scrawl′y ill-formed.
Checked by Anita
Examples
- Read that scrawl. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- He had got somebody to scrawl it up for him, however, who had squeezed Death in with most inappropriate difficulty. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- For ordinary copying work, where much time is occupied in deciphering the illegible scrawl, probably forty words a minute is the average work. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- It was he who invented that writing, which would pass as a child's scrawl unless you just happened to have the key to it. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Such an incoherent scrawl I never had known him nor anybody else write before! Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled over with notes and figures. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- The letter, which was scrawled in pencil uphill and downhill and round crooked corners, ran thus: 'OLD RIAH, Your accounts being all squared, go. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- I took up the envelope and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the gum, the letter K three times repeated. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- They were scrawled with chalk. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Round its hilt was a frill of paper, on which was scrawled: Drive him fast to his tomb. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Doubtless he had been detained, or had misread her hurriedly scrawled note, taking the four for a five. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Three days later a message was left scrawled upon paper, and placed under a pebble upon the sundial. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- I was not obliged to bring their unhallowed scrawls, and run the risk of being bewitched, as more folks than one told me. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- After pausing for some time, he slowly scrawls upon it in a hand that is not his, Chesney Wold? Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
Editor: William