scrabble \SKRAB-uhl\, intransitive verb:
1. To scrape or scratch with the hands or feet.
2. To struggle by or as if by scraping or scratching.
3. To proceed by clawing with the hands and feet; to scramble.
4. To make irregular, crooked, or unmeaning marks; to scribble; to scrawl.
5. To mark with irregular lines or letters; to scribble on or over.
6. To make or obtain by scraping together hastily.
7. The act or an instance of scrabbling.
8. A scribble.
(9. A game the Shelf Life custodian's mother always wins, no matter the opponent. Follow this link to play an abbreviated online version.)
In a sentence: Heard by Maidment but not seen, the dog, called Rosie, yawned, then pushed herself on to her feet, slipping about on the polished boards with a scrabble of paws. -- from Death in Summer by William Trevor.
Etymology: Scrabble derives from Dutch schrabbelen, from Middle Dutch, frequentative of schrabben, "to scrape; to scratch."