different between bobble vs babble

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?b?l/
• Rhymes: -?b?l
• Homophone: bauble (in accents with the cot-caught merger)

Noun

bobble (plural bobbles)

1. A furry ball attached on top of a hat.
2. (Britain) Elasticated band used for securing hair (for instance in a ponytail), a hair tie
3. (informal) A pill (a ball formed on the surface of the fabric, as on laundered clothes).
4. (knitting) A localized set of stitches forming a raised bump.
   • 2008, Claire Compton, Sue Whiting, The Knitting and Crochet Bible (page 45)

     From the top the sample shows four stitch popcorns, five stitch bobbles, two rows of bells and a central leaf with leaves sloping to the left and right each side.

5. A wobbling motion.

Derived terms

• bobble hat
• bobblehead
• bobbly
• head bobble

Translations

Verb

bobble (third-person singular simple present bobbles, present participle bobbling, simple past and past participle bobbled)

1. (intransitive) To bob up and down.
2. (US) To make a mistake in.
3. (intransitive) To roll slowly.
   • November 17 2012, BBC Sport: Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham [1]

     A neat interchange between Mikel Arteta and Wilshere set up Podolski and his finish bobbled into the net via Gallas.

Derived terms

• bobbler

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English babelen, from Old English *bæblian, also wæflian (“to talk foolishly”), from Proto-Germanic *babal?n? (“to chatter”), from Proto-Indo-European *b?a-b?a-, perhaps a reduplication of Proto-Indo-European *b?eh?- (“to say”), or a variant of Proto-Indo-European *baba- (“to talk vaguely, mumble”), or a merger of the two, possibly ultimately onomatopoetic/mimicry of infantile sounds. Cognate with Old Frisian babbelje (“to babble”), Old Norse babbla (“to babble”) (Swedish babbla), Middle Low German babbelen (“to babble”), Dutch babbelen (“to babble, chat”), German pappeln and babbeln (“to babble”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bæb.l?/
• Rhymes: -æb?l

Verb

babble (third-person singular simple present babbles, present participle babbling, simple past and past participle babbled)

1. (intransitive) To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds

2. (intransitive) To talk incoherently; to utter meaningless words.
3. (intransitive) To talk too much; to chatter; to prattle.
4. (intransitive) To make a continuous murmuring noise, like shallow water running over stones.
   • 1815, William Wordsworth, Extracts from Descriptive Sketches

     In every babbling brook he finds a friend.

5. (transitive) To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat words or sounds in a childish way without understanding.
   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull

     These [words] he used to babble indifferently in all companies.

6. (transitive) To reveal; to give away (a secret).

Translations

Noun

babble (usually uncountable, plural babbles)

1. Idle talk; senseless prattle

   Synonyms: gabble, twaddle

   • 1634, John Milton, Comus, a Mask, line 823:

     This is mere moral babble.

2. Inarticulate speech; constant or confused murmur.
   • 1871, Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex

     The babble of our young children.

3. A sound like that of water gently flowing around obstructions.
   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, Mariana

     The babble of the stream.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:chatter

Hyponyms

Translations

See also

• babblement
• babblery

References

• babble in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

German

Verb

babble

1. inflection of babbeln:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
   3. singular imperative