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blab

[blab]Informal.
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verb (used with object), blabbed, blab·bing.
  1. to reveal indiscreetly and thoughtlessly: They blabbed my confidences to everyone.
verb (used without object), blabbed, blab·bing.
  1. to talk or chatter indiscreetly or thoughtlessly: Don't confide in him, because he blabs. She blabbed so much I couldn't hear the concert.
noun
  1. idle, indiscreet chattering.
  2. a person who blabs; blabbermouth.
Also blab·ber [blab-er] /ˈblæb ər/.

Origin of blab

1325–75; Middle English blabbe (noun), perhaps back formation from blaberen to blabber; cognate with Old Norse blabbra, German plappern
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for blabbing

Historical Examples

  • Still, what a lucky escape I had had from blabbing about my exhibition!

    Tom, Dick and Harry

    Talbot Baines Reed

  • There was no evasion in her reply; her only reproach was for his childishness in blabbing.

    Unwritten Literature of Hawaii

    Nathaniel Bright Emerson

  • The hoodlums, one of whom is himself the sinner, have been blabbing, says he.

    Unwritten Literature of Hawaii

    Nathaniel Bright Emerson

  • Well, of course, miss, I'll do my best—I hope I aint one of the blabbing sort.

    A Young Mutineer

    Mrs. L. T. Meade

  • We gain as many hours as we may hold him from blabbing to Privy Seal.

    Privy Seal

    Ford Madox Ford

British Dictionary definitions for blabbing

blab

verb blabs, blabbing or blabbed
  1. to divulge (secrets) indiscreetly
  2. (intr) to chatter thoughtlessly; prattle
noun
  1. a less common word for blabber (def. 1), blabber (def. 2)
Derived Formsblabbing, noun, adjective

Word Origin

C14: of Germanic origin; compare Old High German blabbizōn, Icelandic blabbra
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for blabbing

blab

v.

mid-15c., apparently from Middle English noun blabbe "one who does not control his tongue" (late 13c.), probably echoic. Related: Blabbed; blabbing. The exact relationship between the blabs and blabber is difficult to determine. The noun was "[e]xceedingly common in 16th and 17th c.; unusual in literature since c 1750" [OED].

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper