Babble

From Fresh Dictionary

Contents

[edit]

English

[edit]

Etymology

Confer Late German babbeln; Dutch babbelen; German bappeln, bappern; French babiller; Italian babbolare; probable origin, to keep saying ba, imitative of a child learning to talk; confer tower of Babel.

[edit]

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

babble (plural: babbles)

  1. Idle talk; senseless prattle; gabble; twaddle. "This is mere moral babble." Milton.
  2. Inarticulate speech, such as was used at the building the tower of Babel; constant or confused murmur.
    Quotations
    • The babble of our young children. - Darwin.
    • The babble of the stream. - Tennyson.
[edit]

Translations

Idle talk

Inarticulate speech

[edit]

See also

[edit]

Intransitive Verb

to babble (third-person singular simple present babbles, present participle babbling, simple past babbled, past participle babbled)

  1. To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds; as, a child babbles.
  2. To talk incoherently; to utter unmeaning words.
  3. To talk much; to chatter; to prate.
  4. To make a continuous murmuring noise, as shallow water running over stones.
    • In every babbling brook he finds a friend. - Wordsworth.
    Hounds are said to babble, or to be babbling, when they are too noisy after having found a good scent.
[edit]

Translations

To utter words indistinctly

To talk much

To make a continuous murmuring noise, as shallow water running over stones.

[edit]

Transitive Verb

to babble (third-person singular simple present babbles, present participle babbling, simple past babbled, past participle babbled)

  1. To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat, as words, in a childish way without understanding.
    • These words he used to babble in all companies. - Arbuthnot.
  2. To disclose by too free talk, as a secret.fr:babble

io:babble fi:babble zh:babble

Retrieved from "http://www.freshdictionary.com/index.php/Babble"
Personal tools