kibitz
[ kib-its ]
/ ˈkɪb ɪts /
verb (used without object)
to act as a kibitzer.
verb (used with object)
to offer advice or criticism to as a kibitzer: to kibitz the team from the bleachers.
RELATED WORDS
hinder, intrude, tamper, impose, infringe, impede, dance, urge, offer, nominate, request, introduce, submit, recommend, ask, violate, poach, overstep, misbehave, encroach
Nearby words
- kibbutznik,
- kibe,
- kibei,
- kibi-,
- kibitka,
- kibitzer,
- kiblah,
- kibosh,
- kick,
- kick a habit
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. 2019
Examples from the Web for kibitz
But as those early weeks passed, the opportunity to kibitz never presented itself.
He waved a greeting to the desk sergeant and went over to kibitz the card game.
The Circuit Riders|R. C. FitzPatrick
kibitz
/ (ˈkɪbɪts) /
verb
(intr) US and Canadian informal to interfere or offer unwanted advice, esp as a spectator at a card game
Word Origin for kibitz
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
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
kibitz
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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper