babish

babish

English

Etymology

From babe +‎ -ish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛ.bɪʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɛbɪʃ

Adjective

babish (comparative more babish, superlative most babish)

1. Like a babe; childish; babyish.
   • 16??, The Whole Works of that Eminent Servant of Christ, the late Reverend and much Esteemed Mr. John Bunyan:

     Spoons, you know, are to feed us with weak and thin food, even with that which best suiteth with weak stomachs, or with a babish temper.

   • 1864, Roger Ascham, The Whole Works of Roger Ascham, page 125:

     For, if a young gentleman be demure and still of mature, they say he is simple and lacketh wit; if he be bashful, and will soon blush, they call him a babish and ill brought up thing;

   • 1919, Charles Louis Henry Wagner, Cradled Moons: A Book of Poems, page 233:

     The rot of schools Of medieval time Is Christmas, a pleasing mime To babish minds, Its tinsel blinds The eyes of Thought, 'Tis rot, rot, all rot; And not for me !

Derived terms

• babishly
• babishness

Verb

babish (third-person singular simple present babishes, present participle babishing, simple past and past participle babished)

1. (obsolete) To make or treat as babish.
   • 15??, John Udall, Richardson:

     The Pharisees had babished the simple people with fained and colde religion, and had tangled theyr consciences with.

   • 1563, Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, Letter to Sir William Cecil:

     The truth is, what with passing those hard years of Mary's reign in obscurity, without all conference or such manner of study as now might do me service, and what with my natural viciosity of overmuch shamefastness, I am so babished in myself, that I cannot raise up my heart and stomach to utter in talk with other, which (as I may say) with my pen I can express indifferently, without great difficulty.

   • 1676, Jonathan Tuckney, Forty Sermons Upon Several Occasions, page 635:

     And therefore, in that God by this Office hath advanced you so high, as to set you over his Houshold, Be exhorted so far to know your Place, and the dignity and worth of it, as not to be ashamed of it, nor to be babished in the Execution of it.

   • 2012, “The Annunciation”, in David Bevington, editor, Medieval Drama, page 365:

     Thay excusyd hir thus, sothly, To make hir clene of hir foly, And babished me that was old.

Anagrams

• Habibs