nubble

English

Etymology

Compare Low German nubben (“to knock, cuff”).

Noun

nubble (plural nubbles)

1. A small knob or lump.
   • 1897, Rudyard Kipling, “chapter 1”, in Captains Courageous:

     Harvey saw with disgust that there were no sheets on his bed-place. He was lying on a piece of dingy ticking full of lumps and nubbles.

Verb

nubble (third-person singular simple present nubbles, present participle nubbling, simple past and past participle nubbled)

1. (obsolete) To beat or bruise with the fist.
   • 1712, William Wagstaffe, Crispin the Cobler's Confutation of Ben H-dley:

     if his Master went an Hair's Breadth beyond his Duty, he was a Tyrant, that it was lawful for him to Nubble him

References

• “nubble”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Lubben