Dictionary

slabber en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈslæbə(ɹ)/

Etymology

From Middle English slaberen, from Middle Dutch slabberen (“to lap, sup, slaver, slabber”), from Old Dutch *slabron, from Proto-West Germanic *slabrōn, from Proto-Germanic *slabrōną (“to scrawl, make a mess”), ultimately imitative. Cognate with Low German slabbern (“to slabber”), German schlabbern (“to slabber”), Icelandic slafra (“to slaver”). More at slaver.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Moisture falling from the mouth; slaver.

Forms

slabber en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈslæbə(ɹ)/

Etymology

From Middle English slaberen, from Middle Dutch slabberen (“to lap, sup, slaver, slabber”), from Old Dutch *slabron, from Proto-West Germanic *slabrōn, from Proto-Germanic *slabrōną (“to scrawl, make a mess”), ultimately imitative. Cognate with Low German slabbern (“to slabber”), German schlabbern (“to slabber”), Icelandic slafra (“to slaver”). More at slaver.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To let saliva or other liquid fall from the mouth carelessly; drivel; slaver.
2. (transitive) To eat hastily or in a slovenly manner, as liquid food.
3. (transitive) To wet and befoul by liquids falling carelessly from the mouth; slaver; slobber.
   • At the ſame time he clap'd me on the Back, and ſlabber'd me all over from Cheek to Cheek, vvith his great Tongue. 1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “Of Some Quarrels that Happen’d after Peg was Taken into the Family”, in John Bull Still in His Senses: Being the Third Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], London: […] John Morphew, […], →OCLC, page 23:
4. (transitive) To cover, as with a liquid spill; soil; befoul.
   • The milk pan and cream pot so slabbered and tost / That butter is wanting and cheese is half lost. 1878, Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC; republished as W[illiam] Payne, Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editors, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], 1878, →OCLC:

Forms

Deriveds

slabberer · slabbery · beslabber

slabber en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈslæbə(ɹ)/

Etymology

From slab + -er.

Meanings

1. A saw for cutting slabs from logs.
   • log slabber
2. A slabbing machine.
3. Someone who makes slabs.

Forms