Dictionary

bauble en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈbɔbəl/ (General-American)
• (US) audio
• [ˈbɒbəɫ] Scots
• /ˈbɑbəl/ (cot-caught-merger)
• [ˈbɔːbəɫ] (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English bable, babel, babull, babulle, from Old French babel, baubel (“trinket, child's toy”), most likely a reduplication of bel, ultimately from Latin bellus (“pretty”).

Meanings

1. A cheap showy ornament or piece of jewellery; a gewgaw.
   • […] as to the bauble on which the chief proof rests, if she had earnestly desired it, I should have willingly given it to her, so much do I esteem and value her. 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter 8, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC:
   • Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade. 1977, Jimmy Webb, “Highwayman”:
   • Have none before or after him staked all their treasure of life, as a savage does his land and possessions against a draught of the fair-skins’ fire-water, or a couple of bauble eyes? 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 6, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
2. (broadly, figuratively) Anything trivial and worthless.
   • His hind quarters were likewise short, and not racinglike, and taken as a specimen of the horse, he was a mere bauble when looked at by the side of an English race-horse, much less a hunter. 1841, The New Monthly Magazine and Humorist, page 186:
3. A small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees.
   • Harry dreamed he was back in the D.A. room. Cho was accusing him of luring him there under false pretenses; she said that he had promised her a hundred and fifty Chocolate Frog cards if she showed up. Harry protested....Cho shouted, "Cedric gave me loads of Chocolate Frog cards, look!" And she pulled out fistfuls of cards from inside her robes and threw them in the air, and then turned to Hermione, who said, "You did promise her, you know, Harry....I think you'd better give her something else instead....How about your Firebolt?" And Harry was protesting that he could not give Cho his Firebolt because Umbridge had it, and anyway the whole thing was ridiculous, he'd only come to the D.A. room to put up some Christmas baubles shaped like Dobby's head.... 2003, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Scholastic Press, page 462:
4. A club or sceptre carried by a jester.

Forms

Deriveds

baublery

Synonyms

also: Thesaurus:trinket (showy ornament)

Translations (39)

hu gömbdísz (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · sh drangulija (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · no juggel (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · ru ёлочный шар (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · bg дрънкулка (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · ga slaitín (club or sceptre carried by a jester) · it chincaglieria (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · fr babiole (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · cs vánoční koule (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · es bola de navidad (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · es baratija (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · cs vánoční baňka (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · pl bombka (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · ru безделу́шка (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · sh đinđuva (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · cs cetka (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · pt bola de natal (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · pl błyskotka (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · eo kristnaska globo (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · fi joulupallo (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · fi hely (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · bg топка (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · de Schnickschnack (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · nl kerstbal (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · pl bańka (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · de Christbaumkugel (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · fi rihkamakoru (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · da narrebriks (club or sceptre carried by a jester) · fi narrinsauva (club or sceptre carried by a jester) · ru шутовской жезл (club or sceptre carried by a jester) · ru побряку́шка (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · de Modeschmuck (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · cs tretka (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · sv julgranskula (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · el μπιχλιμπίδι (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · nl prulletjesnuisterij (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · it cianfrusaglia (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery) · fr boule de Noël (small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees) · grc λῆρος (cheap showy ornament piece of jewellery)