different between gab vs gaby

English

Etymology

From Middle English gabben, from Old English gabban (“to scoff, mock, delude, jest”) and Old Norse gabba (“to mock, make sport of”); both from Proto-Germanic *gabb?n? (“to mock, jest”), from Proto-Indo-European *ghabh- (“to be split, be forked, gape”). Cognate with Scots gab (“to mock, prate”), North Frisian gabben (“to jest, sport”), Middle Dutch gabben (“to mock”), Middle Low German gabben (“to jest, have fun”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æb/
• Rhymes: -æb

Noun

gab (countable and uncountable, plural gabs)

1. Idle chatter.
2. The mouth or gob.
3. One of the open-forked ends of rods controlling reversing in early steam engines.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:talkative

Derived terms

• bafflegab
• begab
• gabby
• gift of the gab

Translations

Verb

gab (third-person singular simple present gabs, present participle gabbing, simple past and past participle gabbed)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To jest; to tell lies in jest; exaggerate; lie.
2. (intransitive) To talk or chatter a lot, usually on trivial subjects.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To speak or tell falsely.

Translations

Anagrams

• ABG, AGB, BGA, GBA, bag

Amanab

Noun

gab

1. a large dove

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse gap, verbal noun to gapa (“to gape”).

Noun

gab n (singular definite gabet, plural indefinite gab)

1. mouth, jaws
2. yawn
3. gap

Inflection

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?p/
• Rhymes: -a?p

Verb

gab

1. first/third-person singular preterite of geben

Old French

Alternative forms

• gaab
• gap

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse gabb.

Noun

gab m (oblique plural gas, nominative singular gas, nominative plural gab)

1. joke

Related terms

• gaber

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (gab)
• gab on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

English

Alternative forms

• gabey

Etymology

Origin uncertain.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??e?bi/
  • Rhymes: -e?bi

Noun

gaby (plural gabies)

1. (Britain, regional) A stupid, foolish person; a simpleton; a dunce.

   Synonyms: guffin, nincompoop, fool

   • 1860, William Makepeace Thackeray, Lovel the Widower, chapter 1:

     I daresay I made a gaby of myself to the world

   • 1902, John Kendrick Bangs, Olympian Nights, ch. 10:

     "[Y]ou're a jobbernowl and a doodle, a maundering mooncalf and a blockheaded numps, a gaby and a loon; you're a Hatter!" I shrieked the last epithet.

   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 2:

     "You pair of gabeys!" she exclaimed. "You'll see him before the night's out."

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ab?/

Etymology 1

Conjunction

gaby

1. if

   Synonyms: -li, gaž, joli

Etymology 2

Univerbation of gaž (“if”) +? by (“would”)

Verb

gaby (defective, invariable)

1. if… would

Further reading

• gaby in Ernst Muka/Mucke (St. Petersburg and Prague 1911–28): S?ownik dolnoserbskeje r?cy a jeje nar?cow / Wörterbuch der nieder-wendischen Sprache und ihrer Dialekte. Reprinted 2008, Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag
• gaby in Manfred Starosta (1999): Dolnoserbsko-nimski s?ownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch. Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag.