Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To talk idly or incessantly, as about trivial matters.
- n. Idle talk; chatter.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To jest; lie in jest; speak with exaggeration; lie.
- To talk idly; talk much; chatter; prate.
- To speak or tell falsely.
- n. Idle talk; chatter; loquacity.
- n. The mouth.
- To project like a tusk.
- n. A hook or crook; specifically, the hook on an eccentricrod which engages the wrist on the rock-shaft lever of a valve-motion.
- n. A jest; joke; mock; a piece of pleasantry.
- n. Same as gaub.
Wiktionary
- n. idle chatter
- n. mouth as gob
- v. intransitive, obsolete To jest; to tell lies in jest; exaggerate; lie.
- v. intransitive To talk or chatter a lot, usually on trivial subjects.
- v. transitive, obsolete To speak or tell falsely.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Steam Engine) The hook on the end of an eccentric rod opposite the strap. See.
Illust. of eccentric. - n. colloq. The mouth; hence, idle prate; chatter; unmeaning talk; loquaciousness.
- v. obsolete To deceive; to lie.
- v. To talk idly; to prate; to chatter.
WordNet 3.0
- v. talk profusely
- n. light informal conversation for social occasions
Etymologies
- From Middle English gabben, from Old English gabban ("to scoff, mock, delude, jest") and Old Norse gabba ("to mock, make sport of"); both from Proto-Germanic *gabbanan (“to mock, jest”), from Proto-Indo-European *ghabh- (“to be split, be forked, gape”). Cognate with Scots gab ("to mock, prate"), North Frisian gabben ("to jest, sport"), Middle Dutch gabben ("to mock"), Middle Low German gabben ("to jest, have fun"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English gabben, to scoff, speak foolishly, from Old Norse gabba, to scoff. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The notion that our leaders might have the brains and skill to maturely resolve conflicts with the gift of gab is astounding and long overdue.”
“The natives in the vicinity of Perth generally use the word gab-by, or kuyp-e, for water, but those inhabiting a district only twelve or fourteen miles distant from Perth adopt the word kow-win; the word used by the natives in the vicinity of Adelaide in South Australia for water is kauw-ee.”
Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2
“For your gift of the gab is a caution -- are splendid;”
“Sometimes our phone conversations go on forever, and we just kind of gab about our lives, and what is holding us back.”
“Berserk, nor "gab" like the Paladins of Charlemagne, he is ready on provocation to boast of what he has done.”
“Shut up that kind of gab," demanded Jorth, stridently.”
“Aw, shut up that kind of gab, will y'u?" broke in Colter, harshly.”
“He would chant his own doughty deeds, and "gab," as the Norman word was, in painful earnest, while they gabbed only in sport, and outvied each other in impossible fanfaronades, simply to laugh down a fashion which was held inconsistent with the modesty of a true knight.”
“He would not fit into the world orders "gab" so to speak.”
“He does have the gift of "gab" and is full of "the blarney.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gab’.
-
Noteworthy Words
Here I have in mind a list of words that could be spelled with only the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G--and thus could also be played as a tune on the piano.
face, ace, bag, cage, bad, fad, fade, fee, gee, beg, fed, deaf and 98 more...
-
Talk Talk
Words for Talking
( open list, randomness )squawk, gab, chatter, chitchat, blab, prattle, blather, discuss, hector, plead, cajole, harangue and 200 more...
-
Sounds
words that describe sound
atchoo, atishoo, babble, bam, bay, beep, blast, blather, bleat, bleep, blip, bong and 242 more...
-
3-letter Scrabble Words
aah, aal, aas, aba, abo, abs, aby, ace, act, add, ado, ads and 995 more...
-
ChortleGiggleSnort
Significant Words- Guiding you on your path to Snazzibility
flimsy, feeble, ranting, ramble, narky, snazzy, yoghurt, bulbous, pustule, globulous, geranium, megalomaniac and 521 more...
-
3LW
3 letter words, not the girl band.
boggle and speed scrabble would not be half as fun without them.aah, boa, dot, fun, ick, log, oca, pyx, sos, was, aal, bob and 342 more...
-
Winter's Bone vocabulary
Study list of difficult words from Daniel Woodrell's novel Winter's Bone. In reverse order: start at the bottom to see words from the beginning of the novel!
plaid, lazy susan, lope, furtive, dour, scamper, hard-boiled, implacable, dainty, stomp, resignation, crank and 138 more...
-
5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
-
Least Favorite Words
blog, painterly, choicest, evildoer, perpetrator, murmur, gab, schmooze, macerate, feeble, lusty, boobs and 72 more...
-
Short ’n’ sweet
Words of 5 letters or less (thus pithy) that are pretty cool anyway.
pithy, cavil, hilt, trope, elegy, gett, kyrie, sorry, gild, glebe, buxom, iowa and 42 more...
-
Hogwash!
nonsense, tripe, twaddle, bullshit, poppycock, palaver, balderdash, baloney, gobbledygook, bunk, claptrap, hooey and 88 more...
-
Speech
harangue, lecture, sermon, rant, declamation, rigmarole, oration, tirade, diatribe, gab, jabber
-
Luggage Tags
Significant airport codes.
bwi, ord, dfw, dlh, atl, hnl, ind, jax, jfk, mci, lga, bos and 79 more...
-
Diet
scamp, plucky, countenance, toddle, wither, jade, bobbish, obtuse, fatuity, puisne, insipid, palpable and 66 more...
-
G
-
Manners of Speech
gabble, belie, bray, deadpan, gibber, haver, gab, spout, curtain lecture, bandy
Tweets
Looking for tweets for gab.
lampbane Gabbs Airport (Nevada). Oct 29, 2008