Gubbins
name, noun, slang ·2 syllables ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Fragments; parings; scraps (especially of fish). obsolete, plural, plural-only
"[H]ough you hungerſtarued gubbins or offales of men, how thriue you, howe periſh you, [...]"
- 2 Silly person; fool. UK, informal
""Silly gubbins," she said. "You told me twice, and I was interested even the second time. […]""
- 3 A half-savage race said to live in Devonshire, described by the pastoral poet William Browne, among others. plural, plural-only
- 4 something unspecified whose name is either forgotten or not known wordnet
- 5 Assorted stuff, especially if of little value; tat. British, informal, plural, plural-only
"I had to memorise so much dialogue that never makes it into the movie so I always have a plethora of extra gubbins I can't remember."
- 1 A surname originating as a patronymic.
Example
More examples"[H]ough you hungerſtarued gubbins or offales of men, how thriue you, howe periſh you, [...]"
Etymology
Ante 1553. From gobbin (“piece, portion, slice”), from Middle English goboun, from Anglo-Norman gobon. Compare with English gobony (“line of alternating squares”).
Patronymic surname from a variant of the personal name Gibbon.
More for "gubbins"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.