A rabble is a disorderly crowd, spoken of with contempt. A drunken rabble, rouse the rabble, the rabble at the gates.
It is always the speaker's judgement of somebody else's crowd, and a rabble-rouser is somebody who stirs one up. The word carries a long history of the propertied describing the poor, which is worth hearing when it is used.
1nounrabbleA disorderly crowd, spoken of with contempt.
“The king dismissed the protesters as a rabble of drunks and troublemakers.”
rabble is a crowd.
Middle English rablen meant to speak confusedly, and the noun grew from the noise of a crowd.
Middle English
rablen — to ramble; rave; speak in a confused manner
English, today
rabble
Built from
First attested since 1300s, from Middle English rablen (“to ramble; rave; speak in a confused manner”), cognate with Middle Dutch rabbelen (“to talk; chatter; trifle”), Low German rabbeln, robbeln (“to chatter; prattle”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA