rumble

plural rumbles · alternative rummle · alternative rommle

1. A low, heavy, continuous sound, such as that of thunder or a hungry stomach.

   The rumble from passing trucks made it hard to sleep at night.

2. slangA street fight or brawl.
3. A rotating cask or box in which small articles are smoothed or polished by friction against each other.
4. datedA seat for servants, behind the body of a carriage.

   Kit, well wrapped, […] was in the rumble behind.

   1840-1841, Charles Dickens, Master Humphrey's Clock

   1 more example

   "I never was so sorry for any thing as for Mr. Glentworth's death," said Isabella Granard, endeavouring to screen her face from a small, sharp rain, to which her place in the rumble of a travelling carriage left her quite exposed.

   1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 2

present singular third person rumbles · participle present rumbling · participle past rumbled · past rumbled · alternative rummle · alternative rommle

1. intransitiveTo make a low, heavy, continuous sound.

   If I don't eat, my stomach will rumble.

   2 more examples

   I could hear the thunder rumbling in the distance.

   I watched him take his seat on the third row from the front, and I heard him rumble, “Nearer my God to thee,” some notes behind the rest of us.

   1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms: grumble

2. transitiveTo discover deceitful or underhanded behaviour.

   The police is going to rumble your hideout.

3. intransitiveTo move while making a rumbling noise.

   The truck rumbled over the rough road.

   3 more examples

   As the train rumbled slowly over the Forth Bridge, the western sky was aflame with a particularly gorgeous sunset, and lights were twinkling from the small craft riding at anchor on the calm waters of the firth.

   1950 January, Arthur F. Beckenham, “With British Railways to the Far North”, in Railway Magazine, page 8

   Henderson, beginning a mini-run in the team with David de Gea on paternity leave, threw out to the left flank and Shaw had only one thought – to rumble upfield.

   2021 March 7, David Hytner, “Manchester United catch City cold as Fernandes and Shaw end winning run”, in The Guardian

   We meet at Blackfriars station, in a rather incongruous little room with four seats, on the bridge high above the River Thames. […] Thameslink trains rumble past every minute. You can't just hear them - you feel them through the floor.

   2026 May 13, Angie Doll tells Paul Clifton, “The RAIL Interview”, in RAIL, number 1061, page 50

4. intransitiveslangTo fight; to brawl.

   The Puerto Ricans grumble, "Fair fight," / But if they start a rumble, we'll rumble 'em right

   1957, Stephen Sondheim, “Tonight (Quintet)”, in West Side Story

5. intransitivevideo gamesTo provide haptic feedback by vibrating.
6. transitiveTo cause to pass through a rumble, or polishing machine.
7. intransitiveobsoleteTo murmur; to ripple.

   The trembling streams which wont in channels clear To rumble gently down with murmur soft,[…]

   c. 1580, Edmund Spenser, “The Tears of the Muses”, in Complaints, published 1591

alternative rummle · alternative rommle

1. An onomatopoeia describing a rumbling noise

plural Rumbles

1. countableuncountableA surname.

   The agency's Mark Rumble said the items found in Newcastle had probably come from a waste processing facility.

   2026 September 2, Damian O'Neil, Hannah Mitchell, Federica Bendendo, “Hunt to find 400-tonne waste dump culprits”, in BBC News, retrieved 04 Sep 2026

2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Pike County, Indiana, United States.
3. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Boone County, West Virginia, United States.