babery

English

Etymology

Perhaps originally for baboonery. Compare baboon, and also babe.

Noun

babery (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Finery of a kind to please a child.
   • a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:

     So have I seen trim books in velvet dight, / With golden leaves, and painted babery / Of silly boys, please unacquainted sight.

References

• “babery”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• yabber