different between gossip vs mention

English

Etymology

From Middle English godsybbe, godsib (“a close friend or relation, a confidant”), from Old English godsibb (“godparent, sponsor”), equivalent to god +? sib.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???s.?p/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???s.?p/
• Hyphenation: gos?sip

Noun

gossip (countable and uncountable, plural gossips)

1. (countable) Someone who likes to talk about other people's private or personal business.

   Synonyms: busybody, gossipmonger, meddler, rumormonger; see also Thesaurus:gossiper

   • 1752, Arthur Murphy, The Gray’s Inn Journal, Volume 1, No. 11, p. 73,^[1]

     A losing Gamester, who is obliged to drive into the City to dispose of a little South Sea Stock, gives the Hint there. The Gossips at Garraway’s have it in a Moment: At One it is buzz’d on Change, and the circulating Whisper in the Boxes interrupts the Play at Night.

   • 1846, Herman Melville, Typee, “Sequel Containing the Story of Toby,”^[2]

     He was an arrant old gossip, too; for ever coming off in his canoe to the ships in the bay, and regaling their crews with choice little morsels of court scandal […]

   • 1952, John Steinbeck, East of Eden, London: Heinemann, Chapter 48, p. 456,^[3]

     Alf could tell you about everybody on both sides of Main Street. He was a vicious male gossip, insatiably curious and vindictive without malice.

2. (uncountable) Idle talk about someone’s private or personal matters, especially someone not present.

   Synonyms: dirt, hearsay, rumor, scandal, scuttlebutt; see also Thesaurus:rumor

   • 1818, Jane Austen, Persuasion, Chapter 18,^[4]

     […] the thing is certainly true. It is not a mere bit of gossip. We have it from Frederick himself.

   • I ought to arise and go forth with timbrels and with dances; but, do you know, I am not inclined to revels? There has been a little—just a very little bit too much festivity so far …. Not that I don’t adore dinners and gossip and dances; not that I do not love to pervade bright and glittering places. […]

   • 1980, J. M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians, Penguin, 1982, Chapter 2, p. 32,^[5]

     The smaller a town the more richly it hums with gossip. There are no private affairs here. Gossip is the air we breathe.

   • 2018, Anna Burns, Milkman, London: Faber & Faber, Chapter 1,^[6]

     Intense nosiness about everybody had always existed in the area. Gossip washed in, washed out, came, went, moved on to the next target.

3. (uncountable) Idle conversation in general.

   Synonyms: chat, chinwag, chit-chat, natter; see also Thesaurus:chatter

   • 1868, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, Chapter 38,^[7]

     The parlor was always bright and attractive, the chessboard ready, the piano in tune, plenty of gay gossip, and a nice little supper set forth in tempting style.

4. (uncountable) A genre in contemporary media, usually focused on the personal affairs of celebrities.

   • Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy […] distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.

5. (obsolete) A sponsor; a godfather or godmother; the godparent of one's child.

   Synonym: sponsor

   Hyponyms: godfather, godmother

   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act III, Scene 1,^[8]

     ’tis not a maid, for she hath had gossips [i.e. she could not be a virgin because she has children with godparents]

   • 1689, John Selden, Table-Talk, London: Jacob Tonson et al., 1696, “Prayer,” p. 134,^[9]

     Should a great Lady, that was invited to be a Gossip, in her place send her Kitchen-Maid, ’twould be ill taken;

   • 1741, Samuel Richardson, Pamela, London: for the author, Volume 3, Letter 38, p. 400,^[10]

     It seems, Miss, that if he stood not himself, or procur’d not Gossips for the Christening of the Children of his poorer Tenants, he always sent them a large rich Cake […]

6. (obsolete) A familiar acquaintance.

   Synonym: friend

   • c. 1612, William Shakespeare, Henry VIII, Act V, Scene 5,^[11]

     My noble gossips, ye have been too prodigal:

     I thank ye heartily;

7. (obsolete) Title used with the name of one's child's godparent or of a friend.
   • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV, Scene 2,^[12]

     What, ho, gossip Ford! what, ho!

   • 1905, William John Locke, The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne, Chapter 11,^[13]

     He was old and infirm, he wrote, and Gossip Death was waiting for him on the moor; but before he went to join him he would like to see Susan’s boy again.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

gossip (third-person singular simple present gossips, present participle gossiping or gossipping, simple past and past participle gossiped or gossipped)

1. (intransitive) To talk about someone else's private or personal business, especially in a manner that spreads the information.

   Synonyms: blab, dish the dirt, spill the tea, talk out of turn, tell tales out of school

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Volume 1, Book 2, Chapter 4, p. 66,^[14]

     This Place then is no other than the Chandler’s Shop; the known Seat of all the News; or, as it is vulgarly called, Gossiping, in every Parish in England.

   • 1959, Muriel Spark, Memento Mori, New York: Time-Life, 1964, Chapter 8, p. 109,^[15]

     Godfrey felt guilty at having gossiped to Olive about Lettie’s changes in her will.

2. (intransitive) To talk idly.

   Synonyms: chat, chatter, chew the fat, chinwag, natter, prattle, shoot the breeze

   • 1889, Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat, Chapter 14,^[16]

     […] on seats beneath the trees, the old men group of an evening to drink their ale and gossip over village politics;
3. (obsolete) To stand godfather to; to provide godparents for.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, Act I, Scene 1,^[18]

     […] a world

     Of pretty, fond, adoptious christendoms [i.e. Christian names],

     That blinking Cupid gossips.

   • 1709, Richard Steele, The Tatler, No. 95 in The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, London, 1712, p. 282,^[19]

     The Pleasure I used to take in telling my Boy Stories of the Battles, and asking my Girl Questions about the Disposal of her Baby, and the Gossiping of it, is turned into inward Reflection and Melancholy.

4. (obsolete) To enjoy oneself during festivities, to make merry.
   • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, King John, Act V, Scene 2,^[20]

     […] those baby eyes

     That never saw the giant world enraged;

     Nor met with fortune other than at feasts,

     Full of warm blood, of mirth, of gossiping.

Translations

References

• Michael Quinion (2004) , “Gossip”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, ?ISBN

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English gossip

Noun

gossip m (invariable)

1. gossip (especially concerning famous or important people)

   Synonym: pettegolezzo

Derived terms

• gossipparo

English

Etymology

From Middle English mencioun, mention, from Old French mention, from Latin menti?nem, accusative of menti? (“a mention, calling to mind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?n??n/
• Rhymes: -?n??n
• Hyphenation: men?tion

Noun

mention (plural mentions)

1. A speaking or notice of anything, usually in a brief or cursory manner. Used especially in the phrase make mention of.

   • I will make mention of thy righteousness.
2. (Internet, plural only) A social media feed, a list of replies or posts mentioning a person.

Derived terms

• mentionable
• mentionless

Translations

Verb

mention (third-person singular simple present mentions, present participle mentioning, simple past and past participle mentioned)

1. To make a short reference to something.
2. (philosophy, linguistics) To utter a word or expression in order to refer to the expression itself, as opposed to its usual referent.
   • 2006, Tony Evans, The Transforming Word: Discovering the Power and Provision of the Bible, Moody Publishers ?ISBN, page 140

     I can illustrate this by mentioning the word lead. Now you have no way of knowing for sure which meaning I have in mind until I give it some context by using it in a sentence.

   • 2009, Lieven Vandelanotte, Speech and Thought Representation in English: A Cognitive-functional Approach, Walter de Gruyter ?ISBN, page 124

     If the verbatimness view derives from the popular notion that DST repeats 'the actual words spoken', a second line of thought takes its cue from Quine's (1940: 23–26, 1960: 146–156) philosophical distinction between words which are “used” vs. words which are merely “mentioned”.

   • 2013, Richard Hanley, South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating, Open Court ?ISBN

     If I said rightly, “'Niggers' is a seven letter word,” I would be mentioning the word, and when we write it, we use mention-quotes for this purpose (speech typically lacks quotes, except for the occasional air-quotes). If I said, rightly or wrongly, “Niggers are good athletes,” then I would be using “niggers,” not merely mentioning it.

Synonyms

(make a short reference to something): See Thesaurus:mention

Derived terms

• not to mention
• unmention

Translations

Anagrams

• nontime, omentin

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin menti?, mentionis.

Pronunciation

Noun

mention f (plural mentions)

1. mention (act of mentioning)
2. slogan

Related terms

• mentionner

Further reading

• “mention” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Old French

Alternative forms

• mencion
• mension

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin menti?, mentionis.

Noun

mention f (oblique plural mentions, nominative singular mention, nominative plural mentions)

1. mention (act of mentioning)

See also

• mentevoir