prattery en · NOUN
Etymology
Etymology tree English prat Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -ārius Old French -ier Latin -ia Old French -ie Old French -eriebor. Middle English -erie English -ery English prattery From prat + -ery.
Meanings
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(uncountable) Foolishness or foolish behaviour.
2008. Jan 26, Simon Barnes, Tehran Times, article Keep Class Out of it. In sport you are either good enough, or you’re not, Marcus Willis... had been driving the coaches at the Lawn Tennis Association to distraction, and with this latest bit of prattery finally pushed his luck too far.
2004. March 13, “Ian G Batten” (username), “Re: haddock”, in uk.misc, Usenet, If an obviously egomanic twit makes wonderful music, should his prattery disqualify him?
1871. March 18, Edwin Norris, in The Correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot, Glasgow Universityhttp://foxtalbot.dmu.ac.uk/project/project.html ...We have hunutu muttabbiltu, which must be instruments musical, see hunutu in my p. 291. I derive it from <unknown language> the viol, or prattery, your nabala.
2004. July 20, Alastair Down, The Racing Post (London, England), article The Open and Shut Case of the Missing Hub-Caps. ...Paying sportsmen obscene sums of money does not necessarily mean they behave badly. Unlike football, there seems to be no correlation between fat cattery and prattery.
The Prattery are just come to town.
1821. March, Sarah Spencer Lady Lyttelton. Correspondence of Sarah Spencer Lady Lyttelton 1787-1870 (Kessinger Publishing, 2006), page 234
Relateds
Translations (1)
fr pitrerie (foolishness or foolish behavior)