rumble

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rumbelen, also romblen,^[2][3] probably borrowed from Middle Dutch rommelen, also rummelen,^{[4][5][6][7][8]} or else from Middle Low German rummelen;^[7][8][2] Hoad and the Shorter Oxford call the Dutch verb imitative,^[4][5] and the OED allows that the English verb may be a similar imitative formation of its own.^[7] Compare Middle High German rumpeln, German rummeln, Danish rumle, Norwegian rumle, Old Swedish rumbla and Old Norse rymja (“to shout, roar”).^{[7][9][10][3]} The OED explains the b as epenthetic, as in nimble.^[7] Klein, Partridge and Skeat connect the Germanic verbs with Latin rūmor (“noise, rumour”).^[11][12][13] The noun is from the verb.^[7][2][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a crowd, to make a noise or tumult: the MED quotes Chaucer's Monk's Tale (about 1375), where the people cried and rombled,^[2] and Barnhart dates the sense "make noise" to about 1375, in the Canterbury Tales.^[3] The sense "move with a heavy continuous sound" follows about 1380, in Chaucer's House of Fame.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Chaucer used the verb of thunder in the Legend of Good Women,^[2][7] and the noun both for a low murmuring sound in the Knight's Tale and for tumult or uproar in the Clerk's Tale;^[2][7][3] the "tumult" sense died out after 1704.^[7] The Promptorium Parvulorum (1440) glosses it as to mutter or murmur,^[2][7] and by 1483 it was used of vehicles and machinery, by 1535 of the stomach.^[7] In 18th- and 19th-century use a rumble was the seat or luggage place at the back of a carriage (1798 in the OED, 1808 in Etymonline), probably from the noise of sitting over the wheels;^[7][9][14] rumble seat followed in 1828 and was later used of the folding seat at the back of a car.^[9][3] Rumbles of discontent or change are recorded from 1870, a rumour from 1929 and turntable noise from 1947.^[7] The US slang noun for a street fight between gangs is first found in 1946,^[7][15][9] and Barnhart suggests it may be an anglicization of Spanish rumbo;^[3] the verb "to take part in a gang fight" is recorded by 1959.^[9] British slang rumble, to find out or see through someone, is recorded from the 1890s,^[15][16] and American criminals used the noun for an alarm or a tip-off from 1904.^[15][7] The Scottish noun for a severe blow is recorded from 1489, in Barbour's Bruce.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1375 – verb, to make a noise, of a crowd, in Chaucer.^[2][3]
• c. 1380 – to move with a heavy rolling sound.^[3]
• c. 1385 – noun, a low murmuring sound; tumult (obsolete by 1704).^[2][7]
• 1440 – to mutter or murmur.^[2][7]
• 1483 – of vehicles and machinery.^[7]
• 1535 – of the stomach.^[7]
• 1798 – the back seat or luggage place of a carriage.^[7]
• 1828 – rumble seat.^[9]
• 1843 – a tumbling barrel for cleaning castings.^[7]
• 1890s – British slang, to find out, see through.^[15]
• 1929 – US colloquial, a rumour.^[7]
• 1946 – US slang, a gang fight.^[7][15][9]
• 1947 – low-frequency noise from a turntable.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a deep, heavy, continuous sound: Thunder rumbled over the hills all night.^[16][10][7]
2. To move along with such a sound: A tractor rumbled down the lane.^[16][10][7]
3. To say or utter in a deep rolling voice.^[16][7]
4. Of the stomach, to make a low gurgling noise, especially from hunger.^[7][10]
5. To polish metal parts or stones by tumbling them in a barrel.^[16]
6. (British, informal) To find out about or see through someone or something: The guard soon rumbled their plan.^[16][15]
7. (slang, chiefly US) To take part in a gang fight.^[16][9]

Noun

1. A deep, heavy, continuous sound, as of thunder or traffic.^[16][10][7]
2. (usually plural) A murmur of discontent, or a sign that change is coming.^[7]
3. (slang, originally US) A street fight between gangs; a fight or confrontation.^[7][15][9]
4. Low-frequency noise from the turntable of a record player.^[7][5]
5. (colloquial, chiefly US) A rumour.^[7][5]
6. (historical) A seat or luggage place at the back of a carriage; a rumble seat.^[7][9]
7. (obsolete, c. 1405–1704) Commotion, uproar.^[7][5][2]

Word family

• rumbler
• rumblingly
• rumbly
• rumble seat
• rumble strip

Related words

• rumor
• ramble
• roam

Usage notes

A rare verb rumble, to roam or ramble, recorded from about 1400 to 1722, is of uncertain origin: the OED and the MED take it as a variant of roam with a frequentative suffix, and compare ramble.^[7][2][5] The northern English and Scottish rumble, rubble or broken stones, is apparently a variant of the dialect word rammel.^[7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins