gibber
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to speak inarticulately or meaninglessly.
-
to speak foolishly; chatter.
noun
verb
-
to utter rapidly and unintelligibly; prattle
-
(intr) (of monkeys and related animals) to make characteristic chattering sounds
noun
noun
-
a stone or boulder
-
(modifier) of or relating to a dry flat area of land covered with wind-polished stones
gibber plains
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
gibbersimple
-
gibberssimple
-
have gibberedperfect
-
has gibberedperfect
-
am gibberingprogressive
-
are gibberingprogressive
-
is gibberingprogressive
-
have been gibberingperfect progressive
-
has been gibberingperfect progressive
Past
-
gibberedsimple
-
had gibberedperfect
-
was gibberingprogressive
-
were gibberingprogressive
-
had been gibberingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gibber
1595–1605; origin uncertain; perhaps frequentative of gib (obsolete) to caterwaul ( see gib 2); sense and pronunciation influenced by association with jabber
Vocabulary lists containing gibber
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.
See Examples For:
It's one of the novel's funniest scenes: the men gibber through a jungle – lost in space and out of their Edwardian gourds.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 11, 2010
"I like your watch," he says while I gibber into his big, beautiful, travel-befuddled face.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 18, 2010
And the ocean turned out to gibber rather than murmur.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 25, 2010
Given the tensions that gibber and flap through most marriages, Cordelia's affectations seem rather venial, particularly since her wealth makes Richard's existence so cushy.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
Its high-pitched gibber gabber alarmed the saints again.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
![]()
Today, as Amanda in Private Lives, she whines, gibbers and snorts with all the grace of an untutored Eliza Doolittle.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
We'd started out with gibbers in our clobber and our 'ats.
From 'Hello, Soldier!' Khaki Verse by Dyson, Edward
It grins, and gibbers, and utters its gibes, day and night.
From Mohun, or, the Last Days of Lee by Cooke, John Esten
Northly or Southly may I ride or walk Beneath the glacial Crag or fronded Stalk, But still the Spectre gibbers in my Ears And drowns my Spirits in a Sea of Talk.
From The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Jr. by Irwin, Wallace
Is it a Ghost that never clanks his chains, That never gibbers, and that bangs no door: But quietly and peacefully remains In calm possession of some upper floor?
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98, June 14 1890 by Various
In Puritan poems, the forest gibbered and howled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2016
Very quickly, soldiers began emerging with bizarre symptoms; they shuddered and gibbered or became unable to speak at all.
From New York Times ● Jun. 10, 2016
And sometimes I have to remind myself that in addition to being Terry Gilliam the great director, Terry Gilliam the visionary, this is also Cardinal Fang, the one who gibbered about the Spanish Inquisition.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 22, 2014
Newman complained during his life time of the phantoms that "gibbered" instead of the real him.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2010
His hands and feet threshed in the tangle of the wild grapevine, and he whimpered and gibbered as he tried to get up.
From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck
![]()
But one glance at Gammell’s hollow-eyed ghouls, shrieking skeletal brides, and gibbering specters told any kid that here was something that danced right on the edge of taboo.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2019
Hermes leads them, gibbering like bats, past various underworld landmarks, the white rock of Leukas, etc., and on their way they pass the δῆμον ὀνείρων, which Homer leaves undescribed and unexplained.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 17, 2018
The men who leer after Candy are truly fatuous primates, fit for little but gibbering at the moon.
From New York Times ● Jul. 16, 2018
Because while it is a very nice place, with a good French-dominated wine list, Walter Manzke’s turbocharged bistro cooking could turn just about anyone into a gibbering, gluttonous fool.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2017
She was surrounded by the forces of night, heard but not seen: the gibbering of coyotes and the howling of wolves and the screaming of owls, which were said to carry an evil spirit.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
![]()
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.