blab
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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idle, indiscreet chattering.
-
a person who blabs; blabbermouth.
verb
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to divulge (secrets) indiscreetly
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(intr) to chatter thoughtlessly; prattle
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of blab
1325–75; Middle English blabbe (noun), perhaps back formation from blaberen to blabber; cognate with Old Norse blabbra, German plappern
Explanation
To blab is to gossip about or reveal a secret you promised to keep. You might accidentally blab to your dad about your brother getting in trouble at school. A reporter could take you by surprise and get you to blab about your movie star neighbor, and it might be hard for a little kid not to blab about the birthday gift he's giving his sister. Another way to blab is simply to talk a lot: "I sat there and listened to him blab about all the famous people he knows." Blab comes from the Middle English blabbe, "one who does not control his tongue."
Vocabulary lists containing blab
When I Was the Greatest
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The Egypt Game
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See You in the Cosmos
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Right at the beginning. First interview. Blab, blab, blab. I regret it, but I put it out into the ether, and maybe I’ll learn something.”
From The Guardian • Mar. 22, 2019
Revolve, a biblezine for teenage girls, includes a Q&A column called Blab.
From Time Magazine Archive
Blab, blush, lie, steal, you or I or any one after us!
From Poems By Walt Whitman by Rossetti, William Michael
Fear not, my Lord, I am no Blab; I ever thought a slippery Tongue Mankind's Shame.
From The Stolen Heiress or, The Salamanca Doctor Outplotted by Centlivre, Susanna
Be courteous to your Companions that are your Inferiors; traduce no Body; don't be a Blab with your Tongue, and by this Means you'll get a good Character, and gain Friends without Envy.
From Colloquies of Erasmus, Volume I. by Erasmus, Desiderius
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
