Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun One that babbles.
- noun Any of numerous songbirds of the family Timaliidae, found mostly in tropical and subtropical Southeast Asian and African forests.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who babbles; an idle talker; an irrational prater; one who says things heedlessly or mischievously.
- noun In ornithology: A name of various old-world dentirostral oscine passerine birds more or less nearly related to thrushes. plural The family Timaliidæ or subfamily Timaliinæ of Turdiæ, an uncertain group of generally short-winged and short-tailed birds, definable by no common characters.
- noun In hunting, a dog that yelps or gives tongue too much when in the field.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An idle talker; an irrational prater; a teller of secrets.
- noun A hound too noisy on finding a good scent.
- noun (Zoöl.) A name given to any one of a family (
Timalinæ ) of thrushlike birds, having a chattering note.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Someone who
babbles . - noun Any of several
passerine birds , of thefamilies Timaliidae (found inAsia ,Africa ) andPomatostomidae (found inAustralia ). - noun dated A
hound who is toonoisy on finding a goodscent .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any of various insectivorous Old World birds with a loud incessant song; in some classifications considered members of the family Muscicapidae
- noun an obnoxious and foolish and loquacious talker
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon) 1721
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Wisdom will teach us to enchant the serpent we are to contend with, rather than think to out-hiss it (v. 11): The serpent will bite if he be not by singing and music charmed and enchanted, against which therefore he stops his ears (Ps.lviii. 4, 5); and a babbler is no better to all those who enter the lists with him, who therefore must not think by dint of words to out-talk him, but be prudent management to enchant him.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon) 1721
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As they afforded our apostle no better title than that of a "babbler," chap.xvii. 18, so for a long time they kept up the public vogue in the world, that Christianity was the religion of idiots and men illiterate.
Pneumatologia 1616-1683 1967
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It is pretty clear that they were to some extent under the influence of pique and irritation when they noticed his deviations from the established faith, and applied to him the epithet of "babbler;" but Paul was not the man to be put down either by irony or insult; and at length it was found necessary to allow him a fair opportunity of explaining his principles.
The Ancient Church Its History, Doctrine, Worship, and Constitution 1854
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Some of his hearers were disposed to treat him with contempt; they represented him as an ignorant "babbler," who had picked up a few scraps of learning, and who now sought to palm them off as a "new" philosophy.
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And how on this earth can 73% of Republicans approve of this incoherent babbler?
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Plumage characters suggest that the Abyssinian catbird is a babbler whose nearest relative may be the bush blackcap, Lioptilus nigricapillus, found in the thickets and forests of eastern South Africa.
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Abyssinian catbird, Parophasma galinieri (protonym, Parisoma Galinieri), also known as the Ethiopian catbird or as the juniper babbler, photographed at the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia (Africa).
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The second guy totally blows off Gibbs, gets up, talking the whole time, and walks out on him .... what a face slap for the babbler!
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Just think ..... only seven more months and we will no longer have to listen to this ancient babbler!
ruzuzu commented on the word babbler
Here's some of what the Century has to say about its use in ornithology: "It contains a great number of birds not satisfactorily located elsewhere, and has been called 'the ornithological waste-basket.'"
September 27, 2011