rumble

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a loud low dull continuous noise
  2. noun a servant's seat (or luggage compartment) in the rear of a carriage
  3. noun a fight between rival gangs of adolescents

Etymology

From Middle English rumblen, romblen, rummelyn, frequentative form of romen (“to roar”), equivalent to rome + -le. Cognate with Dutch rommelen (“to rumble”), Low German rummeln (“to rumble”), German rumpeln (“to be noisy”), Danish rumle (“to rumble”), all of imitative origin. Compare typologically Russian громи́ть (gromítʹ), погро́м (pogróm), разгро́м (razgróm) (akin to гром (grom), греме́ть (gremétʹ), громыха́ть (gromyxátʹ)). Also compare гро́хнуть (gróxnutʹ) (akin to гро́хот (gróxot)).

In classic literature

Synonyms

rumbling, grumble, grumbling

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