talebearer
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See also: tale-bearer and tale bearer
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English taleberer; equivalent to tale + bearer.
Noun
[edit]talebearer (plural talebearers)
- An indiscreet person who spreads gossip.
- 1820, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 4, in The Abbot:
- "To speak the truth when my lady commands me," answered the prudential major-domo, "is in some measure my duty, Mistress Lilias; always providing for and excepting those cases in which it cannot be spoken without breeding mischief and inconvenience to myself or my fellow-servants; for the tongue of a tale-bearer breaketh bones as well as Jeddart-staff."
- 1902, Annie Fellows Johnston, chapter 5, in Flip's ‘Islands of Providence’:
- There is always some thoughtless talebearer ready to gather up the arrows of gossip and thrust them into the quivering heart of the victim.
Synonyms
[edit]- blabbermouth, gossip, rumormonger, telltale; see also Thesaurus:gossiper