No. 10,060 in French
grappillait
"Grappillait" means "was gleaning" or "was gathering bit by bit."
In a sentence
Il grappillait quelques raisins de la vigne lorsqu’il passait.
He was picking some grapes from the vine as he passed.
In this sentence, 'grappillait' is used in the context of casually picking small quantities of something, specifically grapes.
Elle grappillait des informations en écoutant les conversations.
She was gathering information by listening to conversations.
Here, 'grappillait' is used metaphorically to describe the act of collecting bits and pieces of information discreetly.
Lors du marathon, il grappillait quelques secondes à chaque kilomètre.
During the marathon, he was gaining a few seconds with every kilometer.
In this usage, 'grappillait' conveys the idea of gradually acquiring or gaining small amounts of something, such as seconds in this case.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “grappillait” in actual French podcasts.
Find “grappillait” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays French podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there.
Get the appFrench books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).