Gabble Ratchet
Preserved but no longer current.
See GABRIEL'S HOUNDS. Gabelle (gabelO. A tax on salt. All the salt made in France had to be brought to the royal warehouses, and was there sold at a price fixed by the Government. The iniquity was that some provinces had to pay twice as much as others. It was abolished in 1789, together with the corvee (forced labour on the roads).
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Gabble Ratchet” mean?
See GABRIEL'S HOUNDS. Gabelle (gabelO. A tax on salt. All the salt made in France had to be brought to the royal warehouses, and was there sold at a price fixed by the Government. The iniquity was that some provinces had to pay twice as much as others. It was abolished in 1789, together with the corvee (forced labour on the roads).
Is “Gabble Ratchet” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.