blab
[blab]Informal.
- to reveal indiscreetly and thoughtlessly: They blabbed my confidences to everyone.
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- 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.
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- idle, indiscreet chattering.
- a person who blabs; blabbermouth.
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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
Related Words for blabbering
blathering, chitchatting, gibbering, blithering, blabbering, jabbering, blather, prate, ramble, babble, blabber, waffle, prattle, gabble, gab, twaddle, jabber, jaw, buzzblab
- to divulge (secrets) indiscreetly
- (intr) to chatter thoughtlessly; prattle
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- a less common word for blabber (def. 1), blabber (def. 2)
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Word Origin for blab
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
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Word Origin and History for blabbering
blab
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].
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper