But what drivel I am writing! It is just an attempt to pass the weary time. 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
A ray of light amid all this nonsense was Gwyn Topham's piece in the Guardian, which was timely, measured, accurate and of appropriate tone. That this single report stood out so clearly as an exemplar is a scathing comment in itself on the volumes of drivel surrounding it. 2020 August 26, Nigel Harris, “Comment Special: Catastrophe at Carmont”, in Rail, page 4:
“You pay too much attention to such insipid drivel in even mentioning it.” 1879, Henry James, chapter XVII, in Confidence, London: Chatto & Windus:
“Yeah, wading down into the comments. "Winsomely compelling cop-aganda," says C-Rob-69. Oh, wait, that was me.” “Drivel for the unwashed. The Bard, how he weeps.” 2024 November 25, Max Brockman, “P.I. Undercover: New York” (1:41 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 6, episode 8, spoken by Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch):
(countable, rare, uncountable) Saliva, drool.
He pauses as I wipe the drivel from his chin. 1997, Mike Allen, “Super Shopper”, in Fresh from Mount Salvage, Elizabethtown, Ky.: Light Lines Press, →ISBN, page 122:
She wipes some drivel from his chin with a Kleenex, which she throws away in the bin, then sits and clasps his hand in hers. 2012, Roland Curram, “Life Changes”, in The Problem with Happiness, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, →ISBN, part 1, page 82:
He wiped drivel from his chin with a stubby forearm. 2008, Jeff Stone, chapter 8, in Eagle (The Five Ancestors; 5), New York, N.Y.: Yearling, Random House Children’s Books, →ISBN, page 57:
From Middle English drevelen, drivelen, from Old English dreflian (“to drivel, slobber, slaver”), from Proto-Germanic *drablijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerebʰ- (“cloudy, turbid; yeast”).
Meanings
To talk nonsense; to talk senselessly; to drool.
(archaic, intransitive) To have saliva drip from the mouth.
To be weak or foolish; to dote.
driveling dotard 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Sixth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:
This drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole. c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:
cs blábolit (to talk nonsense) · gl baballar (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · gl babexar (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · el βγάζω σάλια (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · pl bajać (to talk nonsense) · sv dravla (to talk nonsense) · ca bavejar (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · sv dregla (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · cmn 胡扯 (to talk nonsense) · mi ngutungutuahi (to talk nonsense) · cs žvanit (to talk nonsense) · pl bajdurzyć (to talk nonsense) · bg лигавя се (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · gl babar (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · gl babear (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · pt babar (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · fi höpsiä (to talk nonsense) · el αερολογώ (to talk nonsense) · nl kwijlen (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · cmn 胡说 (to talk nonsense) · es babear (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · el σαλιαρίζω (to talk nonsense) · el λέω ανοησίες (to talk nonsense) · cs slintat (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · fr baver (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · de sabbern (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · bg говоря глупости (to talk nonsense) · fi höpöttää (to talk nonsense) · es decir tonterías (to talk nonsense) · mi kutukutuahi (to talk nonsense) · sv drägla (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · fr radoter (to talk nonsense) · fr baragouiner (to talk nonsense) · mi hāwareware (to have saliva drip from the mouth) · fi puhua puuta heinää (to talk nonsense)
From Middle English drivel, probably from driven + -el, unless borrowed from an equivalent word in another West Germanic language. Compare Old Dutch drevel (“scullion”).
Meanings
(obsolete) A servant; a drudge.
that foul aged drivel 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
(obsolete) A fool; an idiot.
if thou didst know what a life I lead with that drivel, it would make thee even of pity receive me into thy only comfort a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:
Walter was as silly as most men are when in love. He went drivelling off in pursuit of her "dear little work-worn hands"[.] 1914 May 30, The Darling Downs Gazette, Qld, page 2:
"I am amazed to think we are in the second week of war and this country is still drivelling along with a small volunteer force," he added. 1939 September 15, The Daily Examiner, Grafton, NSW, page 5:
But that is a state of things, which must in time work its own cure. We cannot always go dribbling and drivelling along, government and people alike being the scoff of all onlookers. 1865 October 7, The Mercury, Hobart, page 2:
Drivelling back to the shanty at midday presented him with a distracting gamble over lunch. 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 122:
There was a good deal of bustle and life at the inn; but three or four inebriates drivelling about the premises were 'suffering a recovery,' from the excitement of the previous night's entertainment. 1872 October 29, The Newcastle Chronicle, NSW, page 4:
(obsolete) To use up or to be used up.
It is for the country to say whether we are to keep on in this backward course, whether we are to go on getting deeper and deeper into debt, whether we are to have increased taxation year after year. The bone and sinew of the land is drivelling away. 1872 August 31, The Mercury, Hobart, page 2:
Instead of drivelling away the precious initiative season of life in the vain labour of teaching tuneable voices to sing[.] 1858 August 17, The Ovens and Murray Advertiser, Beechworth, Vic, page 2: