gabble

See also: gable

English

Etymology

gab +‎ -le, frequentative.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡæbəl/
• Rhymes: -æbəl

Verb

gabble (third-person singular simple present gabbl, present participle ing, simple past and past participle gabbled)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning.
   • 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act I, scene II :

     I pitied thee, took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour one thing or other; when thou didst not, savage, know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like a thing most brutish

   • 1900, Mark Twain, chapter 4, in The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg:

     Then he fell to gabbling strange and dreadful things which were not clearly understandable.

   • 2013, J. M. Coetzee, The Childhood of Jesus. Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company. chapter 16. p. 144.

     Does she regard him simply as a workman come to do a job for her, someone whom she need never lay eyes on again; or is she gabbling to hide discomfiture?

2. To utter inarticulate sounds with rapidity.

   gabbling fowls

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)

Translations

talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning

• Bulgarian: бърборя (bg) (bǎrborja), дърдоря (bg) (dǎrdorja)
• Finnish: lörpötellä (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Georgian: ყბედობა (q̇bedoba), ლაყბობა (laq̇boba)
• Maori: kunanu

to utter inarticulate sounds with rapidity

• Bulgarian: крякам (bg) (krjakam)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Georgian: ყბედობა (q̇bedoba), ლაყბობა (laq̇boba), ლუღლუღი (luɣluɣi), ბუტბუტი (buṭbuṭi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} बड़बड़ाना (hi) (baṛabṛānā)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kyrgyz: ^{(please verify)} күбүрө- (kübürö-), ^{(please verify)} кобура- (kobura-)

Synonyms

• babble; See also Thesaurus:prattle

Noun

gabble (uncountable)

1. Confused or unintelligible speech.
   • G. K. Chesterton

     a lot of gabble from witnesses

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:chatter