To distort or confuse information, especially by mistake or intentionally; to make a message unclear or misleading.
From Italian 'garbellare' and Arabic 'gharbal' meaning 'to sift' or 'to separate.' The sense evolved from physically sifting (removing good from bad) to mixing things up and distorting meaning.
It's fascinating that 'garble' comes from sifting—the idea that when you sift too much, things get jumbled together, just like when someone repeats a message incorrectly, the information gets all mixed up!
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