Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *gabbōną
Proto-West Germanic *gabbōn
Old English gabbander.
Middle English gabbender.
English gab
Proto-Germanic *-lōną
Old English -lian
Middle English -len
English -le
English gabble
From gab + -le. Cognate with Saterland Frisian gabbelje (“to mock”), Dutch gabbelen (“to chatter, babble”), German Low German gabbeln (“to mock”).
Meanings
(uncountable) Confused or unintelligible speech.
[T]he driver was delayed there by a skimpy little woman with a thin piping voice practised in the art of defeating escape from it by a ceaseless stream of gabble. 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 26:
a lot of gabble from witnesses 1914, G. K. Chesterton, The Wisdom of Father Brown:
Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *gabbōną
Proto-West Germanic *gabbōn
Old English gabbander.
Middle English gabbender.
English gab
Proto-Germanic *-lōną
Old English -lian
Middle English -len
English -le
English gabble
From gab + -le. Cognate with Saterland Frisian gabbelje (“to mock”), Dutch gabbelen (“to chatter, babble”), German Low German gabbeln (“to mock”).
Meanings
(ambitransitive) To talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning.
Then he fell to gabbling strange and dreadful things which were not clearly understandable. 1900, Mark Twain, chapter 4, in The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg:
Does she regard him simply as a workman come to do a job for her, someone whom she need never lay eyes on again; or is she gabbling to hide discomfiture? 2013, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 16, in The Childhood of Jesus, Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company, page 144:
I pitied thee, took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour one thing or other; when thou didst not, savage, know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like a thing most brutish 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
Americans are always drinking in crossroads saloons on Sunday afternoon; they bring their kids; they gabble and brawl over brews; everything’s fine. 1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC:
To utter inarticulate sounds with rapidity.
I not to Cinna’s Ears, nor Varus dare aſpire; / But gabble like a Gooſe; amidſt the Svvan-like Quire. 1697, Virgil, “The Ninth Pastoral. Or, Lycidas, and Moeris.”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 43:
es hablar atropelladamente (to utter inarticulate sounds with rapidity) · cs žvanit (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · mi hautete (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · pl trajkotać (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · es farfullar (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · es farfullar (to utter inarticulate sounds with rapidity) · bg бърборя (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · cs mlít (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · fi lörpötellä (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · ka ყბედობა (to utter inarticulate sounds with rapidity) · ka ლუღლუღი (to utter inarticulate sounds with rapidity) · mi kunanu (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · mi tarawhetewhete (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · mi hote (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · cs drmolit (to utter inarticulate sounds with rapidity) · es hablar atropelladamente (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · mi kōtetetete (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · mi tarawhete (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · ka ყბედობა (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · pl gęgać (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · bg дърдоря (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · ka ლაყბობა (to utter inarticulate sounds with rapidity) · pl nawijać (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · pl bełkotać (to utter inarticulate sounds with rapidity) · bg крякам (to utter inarticulate sounds with rapidity) · ka ბუტბუტი (to utter inarticulate sounds with rapidity) · ka ლაყბობა (talk fast, idly, foolishly, or without meaning) · hu hadar (to utter inarticulate sounds with rapidity)