gab

See also: Gab, GAB, gãb, gąb, gab-, -gab-, ġab, and ğab

English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɡæb/
- Audio (UK) (file)
Rhymes: -æb

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle English gab, gabbe, from Old Norse gabb (“jest, mockery”) (whence also Old French gab, gap (“mockery, derision, scorn”)). Cognate with Icelandic gabb (“hoax”).

Noun

gab (countable and uncountable, plural gabs)

Idle chatter.
The mouth or gob.
One of the open-forked ends of rods controlling reversing in early steam engines.
- 1940 July, S. Richards, “Locomotive Valve gear Development”, in Railway Magazine, page 412:
  Loose eccentric reversing gear gave way about 1836 to the early forms of gab motion. [...] In 1840 Stephenson evolved a motion in which the gabs were connected directly to the valve spindle.

Derived terms

bafflegab
begab
gabble
gabby
gift of the gab
wide-gab

Translations

Idle chatter

Assamese: বকনি (bokoni)
Bulgarian: бърборене (bg) n (bǎrborene)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 廢話／废话 (zh) (fèihuà)
Dutch: geklets (nl), gebabbel (nl), gekakel (nl)
Esperanto: parolemo
Finnish: pulina (fi), pälpätys (fi), löpinä
French: bagou (fr) m
Georgian: ყბედობა (q̇bedoba), ლაყბობა (laq̇boba)
German: Geschwätz (de) n, Gequassel (de) n
Japanese: 無駄話 (むだばなし, mudabanashi)
Kyrgyz: бабыроо (ky) (babıroo),эбирөө (ebiröö)
Russian: болтовня́ (ru) f (boltovnjá), трёп (ru) m (trjop)

Etymology 2

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 *gabbōną (“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”).

Verb

gab (third-person singular simple present gabs, present participle gabbing, simple past and past participle gabbed)

(intransitive, obsolete) To jest; to tell lies in jest; exaggerate; lie.
(intransitive) To talk or chatter a lot, usually on trivial subjects.
- 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, Sydney: Ure Smith, published 1962, OCLC 751607287, page 26:
  "That Mrs. Mender gives a bloke the ear-ache; thinks a bloke's got all day to waste listening to her gab."
(transitive, obsolete) To speak or tell falsely.

Derived terms

gabber
gabbing

Translations

to talk or chatter a lot, usually on trivial subjects

Assamese: বকা (boka)
Bulgarian: бърборя (bg) (bǎrborja)
Dutch: kletsen (nl)
Finnish: pulista (fi), pälpättää (fi)
French: papoter (fr), bavarder (fr), babiller (fr)
Georgian: ყბედობა (q̇bedoba), ლაყბობა (laq̇boba)
German: schwatzen (de), quasseln (de)
Russian: болта́ть (ru) (boltátʹ), трепа́ться (ru) (trepátʹsja)

Anagrams

ABG, AGB, BGA, GBA, bag

Amanab

Noun

gab

a large dove

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse gap, verbal noun to gapa (“to gape”).

Noun

gab n (singular definite gabet, plural indefinite gab)

mouth, jaws
yawn
gap

Inflection

Declension of gab

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
neuter gender	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	gab	gabet	gab	gabene
genitive	gabs	gabets	gabs	gabenes

German

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɡaːp/
Audio (Austria) (file)
Audio (file)
Rhymes: -aːp

Verb

gab

first/third-person singular preterite of geben

Old French

Alternative forms

gaab
gap

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse gabb.

Noun

gab m (oblique plural gas, nominative singular gas, nominative plural gab)

joke
- circa 1177, Chrétien de Troyes, Le Chevalier de la Charrette, page 50 (of the Livres de Poche Lettres gothiques edition, →ISBN, line 96:
  Est ce a certes ou a gas?
  Is this certain or in jest?

Related terms

gaber

References

Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (gab)

gab on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

Old High German

Alternative forms

gap

Verb

gab

first/third-person singular past indicative of geban