kibitz
[kib-its]Informal.
- to act as a kibitzer.
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- to offer advice or criticism to as a kibitzer: to kibitz the team from the bleachers.
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Origin of kibitz
1925–30, Americanism; < Yiddish kibetsn, equivalent to German kiebitzen to look on at cards, derivative of Kiebitz busybody, literally, lapwing, plover
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for kibitz
Contemporary Examples
But as those early weeks passed, the opportunity to kibitz never presented itself.
Historical Examples
He waved a greeting to the desk sergeant and went over to kibitz the card game.
The Circuit RidersR. C. FitzPatrick
kibitz
- (intr) US and Canadian informal to interfere or offer unwanted advice, esp as a spectator at a card game
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Word Origin
C20: from Yiddish kibitzen, from German kiebitzen to be an onlooker, from Kiebitz busybody, literally: plover
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 kibitz
v.
1927, from Yiddish kibitsen "to offer gratuitous advice as an outsider," from German kiebitzen "to look on at cards, to kibitz," originally in thieves' cant "to visit," from Kiebitz, name of a shore bird (European pewit, lapwing) with a folk reputation as a meddler, from Middle High German gibitz "pewit," imitative of its cry. Young lapwings are proverbially precocious and active, and were said to run around with half-shells still on their heads soon after hatching.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper