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Webster 1913 Edition


Gabble

Gab′ble

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Gabbled
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Gabbling
.]
[Freq. of
gab
. See
Gab
,
Verb.
I.
]
1.
To talk fast, or to talk without meaning; to prate; to jabber.
Shak.

Gab′ble

,
Noun.
1.
Loud or rapid talk without meaning.
Forthwith a hideous
gabble
rises loud
Among the builders.
Milton.
2.
Inarticulate sounds rapidly uttered; as of fowls.

Webster 1828 Edition


Gabble

GAB'BLE

,
Verb.
I.
[Eng. to gibe.]
1.
To prate; to talk fast, or to talk without meaning.
Such a rout, and such a rabble,
Run to hear Jack Pudding gabble.
2.
To utter inarticulate sounds with rapidity; as gabbling fowls.

GAB'BLE

,
Noun.
Loud or rapid talk with meaning.
1.
Inarticulate sounds rapidly uttered, as of fowls.

Definition 2024


gabble

gabble

See also: gable

English

Verb

gabble (third-person singular simple present gabbles, present participle gabbling, simple past and past participle gabbled)

  1. 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, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, ch. 4:
      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

Synonyms

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:chatter