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Jabber

//ˈd͡ʒæbə(ɹ)// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Rapid or incoherent talk, with indistinct utterance; gibberish. uncountable

    "1735, Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, edited by George Faulkner, Dublin, 1735, Volume 3, A Letter from Capt. Gulliver to his Cousin Sympson, pp. v-vi, And, is there less Probability in my Account of the Houyhnhnms or Yahoos, when it is manifest as to the latter, there are so many Thousands even in this City, who only differ from their Brother Brutes in Houyhnhnmland, because they use a Sort of a Jabber, and do not go naked."

  2. 2
    One who or that which jabs.

    "Have the boys box, one jabbing and the other practicing the methods of boxing a jabber."

  3. 3
    rapid and indistinct speech wordnet
  4. 4
    One who administers a hypodermic injection. informal

    "Like Claire, these “secret jabbers” are keeping it private even from their closest family and friends."

  5. 5
    A kind of hand-operated corn planter.

    "The jabber was the most popular hand-operated corn planter ever devised. […] Inset shows jaws closed for jabbing (left) and open for depositing kernels (right)."

Verb
  1. 1
    To talk rapidly, indistinctly, or unintelligibly; to utter gibberish or nonsense. intransitive

    "1829, James Hogg, The Shepherd’s Calendar, New York: A.T. Goodrich, Volume I, Chapter 9, “Mary Burnet,” p. 184, Allanson made some sound in his throat, as if attempting to speak, but his tongue refused its office, and he only jabbered."

  2. 2
    talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner wordnet
  3. 3
    To utter rapidly or indistinctly; to gabble. transitive

    "She had Lord James' collar in one big fist and she pounded the table with the other and talked a blue streak. Nobody could make out plain what she said, for she was mainly jabbering Swede lingo, but there was English enough, of a kind, to give us some idee."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English jaberen, javeren, chaveren (“to chatter, babble”), dissimilated forms of jablen, chavelen (“to jabber”), from Middle English chavel ("jaw"; > modern English jowl). Equivalent to jowl + -er (iterative suffix).

Etymology 2

From Middle English jaberen, javeren, chaveren (“to chatter, babble”), dissimilated forms of jablen, chavelen (“to jabber”), from Middle English chavel ("jaw"; > modern English jowl). Equivalent to jowl + -er (iterative suffix).

Etymology 3

From jab + -er.

See also for "jabber"

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