jabber (v.)

"talk rapidly and indistinctly," 1650s, spelling variant of Middle English jablen (c. 1400), also javeren, jaberen, chaveren, jawin; probably ultimately echoic. Related: Jabbered; jabbering. The noun, "rapid, unintelligible talk" is 1727, from the verb. Related: Jabberment (Milton).

also from 1650s

Entries linking to jabber

gibberish (n.)

"rapid and inarticulate speech; talk in no known language," 1550s, imitative of the sound of chatter, probably influenced by jabber. Used early 17c. of the language of rogues and gypsies.

jibber-jabber (v.)

1728, "to talk gibberish," reduplication of jabber (q.v.). Related: Jibber-jabbering. As a noun from 1813, also gibber-gabber. Compare gibble-gabble "idle talk, chatter" (c. 1600). Jibber (v.) is attested from 1824.

Trends of jabber

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to Explore

rant

c. 1600, "to be jovial and boisterous," also "to talk bombastically," from Dutch randten (earlier ranten) "talk foolishly, rave," of unknown origin (compare German rantzen "to frolic, spring about," dialectal rant "noise, uproar"). Related: Ranted; ranting. Ranters as the name of

spout

"issue forcibly; spit out" as a liquid, early 14c., spouten, a common Germanic word, ultimately imitative, related to Middle Dutch spoiten "to spout" (Dutch spuiten "to flow, spout"), North Frisian spütji "spout, squirt," Swedish sputa "to spout," from Proto-Germanic *sput- (from

rave

early 14c., raven, "to show signs of madness or delirium, to rage in speech," from Old French raver, variant of resver "to dream; wander here and there, prowl; behave madly, be crazy," a word of unknown origin (compare reverie). An identical (in form) verb meaning "to wander, str

smatter

in Middle High German smetern "to chatter" and Swedish smattra "to patter, rattle," and compare Danish snaddre "chatter, jabber...

chatter

Compare Dutch koeteren "jabber," Danish kvidre "twitter, chirp."...

higgledy-piggledy

harum-scarum, helter-skelter, hiccup-suickup, hocus-pocus, hotch-potch, hugger-mugger, humdrum, hum-strum, hurry-scurry, jibber-jabber...

mouth

Old English muþ "oral opening of an animal or human; opening of anything, door, gate," from Proto-Germanic *muntha- (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian muth, Old Norse munnr, Danish mund, Middle Dutch mont, Dutch mond, Old High German mund, German Mund, Gothic munþs "mouth"),

stoup

late 14c., stoupe, "jug," especially one made of leather; also a measure for liquid, of varying amount, from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse staup "cup," from Proto-Germanic *staupo- (source also of Middle Low German stop, Middle Dutch stoop "a cup, vessel," Dutch stoop,

POTUS

wire service acronym for president of the United States (or President of the United States). It is a survival from the Phillips Code, created 1879 by U.S. journalist Walter P. Phillips to speed up (and save money on) Morse code transmissions but obsolete from c. 1940 with the wid

talk

c. 1200, talken, "speak, discourse, say something," probably a diminutive or frequentative form related to Middle English tale "story," and ultimately from the same source as tale (q.v.), with rare English formative -k (compare hark from hear, stalk from steal, smirk from smile)

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updated on September 28, 2017

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