babbler

[ bab-ler ]

noun

1. a person or thing that babbles.
2. any of the birds of the family Timaliidae, many of which have a loud, babbling cry.

babbler

/ ˈbæblə /

noun

1. a person who babbles
2. any of various insect-eating birds of the Old World tropics and subtropics that have a loud incessant song: family Muscicapidae (warblers, thrushes, etc)

Word History and Origins

Origin of babbler¹

First recorded in 1520–30; babble + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Like humans and other babblers, the behavior started early in development, a little over two weeks after the bats’ birth.

From Science News

The bats may not babble exactly like other known babblers, says Pralle Kriengwatana, a behavioral biologist at the University of Glasgow in Scotland who wasn’t involved in the study.

From Science News

Figuratively the term is used to designate an empty babbler.

From Project Gutenberg

Pisistratus could not feel flattered by passages intended to exhibit his ancestor as a conceited and inopportune old babbler.

From Project Gutenberg

The eggs of this cuckoo are blue, but are distinguishable from those of the babbler by their larger size.

From Project Gutenberg

When it sees a babbler approaching with food, the cuckoo cries out and flaps its wings vigorously.

From Project Gutenberg

Our Yankee, like the Roman babbler, had abundance of time to discourse on fifty different subjects.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• debater
• orator