blah

• Sense “Idle, meaningless talk” (1940), probably imitative or echoic in origin. Perhaps, but cf Greek "barbarbar” ‘unintelligible sounds’ (Grillo 1989:174).
• Adjective sense “bland, dull” (1919), perhaps influenced by French blasé (“bored, indifferent”).
• The blahs (“boredom, mild depression”) first attested 1969; extension of adjective sense and influenced by term the blues.
• Also may be connected with bleat

GRILLO, R.D. 1989. Dominant languages: Language and hierarchy in Britain and France. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• IPA^(key): /blɑː/
• Rhymes: -ɑː

blah (countable and uncountable, plural blahs)

1. (uncountable, informal) Nonsense; drivel; idle, meaningless talk.
2. (informal) (in plural, the blahs) A general or ambiguous feeling of discomfort, dissatisfaction, uneasiness, boredom, mild depression, etc.

• (nonsense, drivel): bosh, bombast, bunkum, claptrap, eyewash, fustian, rant, hooey, humbug, rubbish, twaddle
• (feeling of boredom, mild depression): malaise

blah (comparative more blah, superlative most blah)

1. (informal) Dull; uninteresting; insipid.

   Well, the new restaurant seems nice, but their menu is a little blah.

2. (informal) Low in spirit or health; down.

   I decided to go exercise rather than sit around all day feeling blah.

blah

1. An expression of mild frustration.

   Blah! Why can't I get this computer to work!

2. (When spoken repeatedly, often three times in succession: blah blah blah!) Imitative of idle, meaningless talk; used sometimes in a slightly derogatory manner to mock or downplay another's words, or to show disinterest in a diatribe, rant, instructions, unsolicited advice, parenting, etc. Also used when recalling and retelling another's words, as a substitute for the portions of the speech deemed irrelevant.

   Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah, Mom, you said this all yesterday.

   And then he was like, "Oh, my brother's an Internet millionaire, blah blah blah." Like I care!

3. Representing the sound of vomiting. See bleah, bleh.

• (boring content): blah blah, blah blah blah

• (boring content): yada yada yada

blah (third-person singular simple present blahs, present participle blahing, simple past and past participle blahed)

1. (intransitive) To utter idle, meaningless talk.
   • 2014, Shelagh Stephenson, Ancient Lights, page 28:

     Ooh, I feel so guilty, I've got far too much money — […] So give it away, endow a charitable foundation, burn it, but stop blahing on about it […]

   • 2015, Tony Blair, Jeremy Corbyn’s politics are fantasy – just like Alice in Wonderland (in The Guardian, 29 August 2015)

     Someone else said to me: “If you’re writing something again, don’t blah on about winning elections; it really offends them.”

• barbarian
• bleah
• bleh
• rhubarb

• Bahl