babble

From Middle English babelen, from Old English *bæblian, also wæflian (“to talk foolishly”), from Proto-Germanic *babalōną (“to chatter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰa-bʰa-, perhaps a reduplication of Proto-Indo-European *bʰā- (“to say”), or a variant of Proto-Indo-European *baba- (“to talk vaguely, mumble”), or a merger of the two, possibly ultimately onomatopoetic/mimicry of infantile sounds. Cognate with Old Frisian babbelje (“to babble”), Old Norse babbla (“to babble”) (Swedish babbla), Middle Low German babbelen (“to babble”), Dutch babbelen (“to babble, chat”), German pappeln and babbeln (“to babble”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbæb.l̩/

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• Rhymes: -æbəl

babble (uncountable)

1. Idle talk; senseless prattle

   Synonyms: gabble, twaddle

   • 1634, John Milton, Comus, a Mask, line 823:
   • "This is mere moral babble."
2. Inarticulate speech; constant or confused murmur.

   • The babble of our young children. - Darwin.

3. A sound like that of water gently flowing around obstructions.

   • The babble of the stream. - Alfred Tennyson.

• See also Thesaurus:chatter

• babblement
• babblery

babble (third-person singular simple present babbles, present participle babbling, simple past and past participle babbled)

1. (intransitive) To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds

   The men were babbling, so we couldn't make sense of anything.

2. (intransitive) To talk incoherently; to utter meaningless words.
3. (intransitive) To talk too much; to chatter; to prattle.
4. (intransitive) To make a continuous murmuring noise, like shallow water running over stones.

   • In every babbling brook he finds a friend. - William Wordsworth.

   Hounds are said to babble, or to be babbling, when they are too noisy after having found a good scent.

5. (transitive) To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat words or sounds in a childish way without understanding.

   • These words he used to babble in all companies. - John Arbuthnot.

6. (transitive) To reveal; to give away (a secret).

• babble in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

babble

1. First-person singular present of babbeln.
2. First-person singular subjunctive I of babbeln.
3. Third-person singular subjunctive I of babbeln.
4. Imperative singular of babbeln.