scrawl Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun poor handwriting
    scratch; scribble; cacography.
  2. verb write carelessly
    scribble.

WordNet

Scrawl intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. See Crawl. Obs. Latimer.
Scrawl transitive verb
Etymology
Probably corrupted from scrabble.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Scrawled ; present participle & verbal noun Scrawling
Definitions
  1. To draw or mark awkwardly and irregularly; to write hastily and carelessly; to scratch; to scribble; as, to scrawl a letter.
    His name, scrawled by himself. Macaulay.
Scrawl intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To write unskillfully and inelegantly.
    Though with a golden pen you scrawl. Swift.
Scrawl noun
Definitions
  1. Unskillful or inelegant writing; that which is unskillfully or inelegantly written.
    The left will make such a scrawl, that it will not be legible. Arbuthnot.
    You bid me write no more than a scrawl to you. Gray.

Webster 1913