Dictionary

bab en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /bæb/

Etymology

Clipping of babby (“baby”).

Meanings

1. (UK, informal) A baby.

Forms

Synonyms

baby

bab en · NOUN · etymology 2

Etymology

Probably related to bob.

Meanings

1. (East-Anglia) A bait for eels, consisting of a bundle of live worms.
   • The worms were threaded onto the yarn until we had 4 or 5 feet of big juicy worms threaded through. We would coil it all up and put an old rusty nut at the centre and tie it on a bit of string on an old ash pole — this was the bab. 2006 February 1, John Meiklejohn, “Babbing for eels”, in BBC - WW2 People's War:

Forms

Deriveds

babber

Synonyms

clod

bab en · VERB · etymology 2

Etymology

Probably related to bob.

Meanings

1. (East-Anglia, intransitive) To fish for eels using a bab.
   • Another classic example was babbing for eels; he would come along and say — ‘Goodnight for babbing, make you some babs’. 2006 February 1, John Meiklejohn, “Babbing for eels”, in BBC - WW2 People's War:
   • Sometimes we trolled or set liggers for pike, we seldom babbed for eels, it was such a slimy job. 1948, William Guy, Mostly Memories: Some Digressions, C. J. Cousland, page 24:
   • The babbers follow the eels, and you may see fifteen boats as close together as possible, babbing away, and catching as much as four stone-weight of eels per boat of a night. 1884, George Christopher Davies, Norfolk Broads and Rivers, W. Blackwood and sons, page 244:

Forms