Burble
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A bubbling, gurgling sound, as of a creek.
"Marta's gander was a magnificent snow-white bird: the object of terror to foxes, children and dogs. She had reared him as a gosling; and whenever he approached, he would let fly a low contented burble and sidle his neck around her thighs."
- 2 Trouble; disorder.
- 3 A gush of rapid speech.
"He could hear the music in the distance, and the burble and laughter from the library, and a high ringing in his own ears."
- 4 The turbulent boundary layer about a moving streamlined body.
- 1 To bubble; to gurgle. intransitive
"The stream burbled as it flowed past. Its slightly musty odor smelled of trout."
- 2 To trouble or confuse. transitive
- 3 flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise wordnet
- 4 To babble; to speak in an excited rush.
"She burbled on, as if I cared to listen."
Example
More examples"Marta's gander was a magnificent snow-white bird: the object of terror to foxes, children and dogs. She had reared him as a gosling; and whenever he approached, he would let fly a low contented burble and sidle his neck around her thighs."
Etymology
From Middle English burblen (“to bubble”), imitative.
Scottish; probably connected Old French barbouiller (“to confound”).
Related phrases
More for "burble"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.