different between jabber vs blabber

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?æb?(?)/
• Rhymes: -æb?(?)

Etymology 1

Imitative.

Verb

jabber (third-person singular simple present jabbers, present participle jabbering, simple past and past participle jabbered)

1. (intransitive) To talk rapidly, indistinctly, or unintelligibly; to utter gibberish or nonsense.
   • 1829, James Hogg, The Shepherd’s Calendar, New York: A.T. Goodrich, Volume I, Chapter 9, “Mary Burnet,” p. 184,^[1]

     Allanson made some sound in his throat, as if attempting to speak, but his tongue refused its office, and he only jabbered.

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 19,^[2]

     “What are you jabbering about, shipmate?” said I.

2. (transitive) To utter rapidly or indistinctly; to gabble.
   • 1939, H. G. Wells, The Holy Terror, Book One, Chapter 1, Section 2,^[3]

     He wept very little, but when he wept he howled aloud, and jabbered wild abuse, threats and recriminations through the wet torrent of his howling.

Translations

Noun

jabber (uncountable)

1. Rapid or incoherent talk, with indistinct utterance; gibberish.
   • 1735, Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, edited by George Faulkner, Dublin, 1735, Volume 3, A Letter from Capt. Gulliver to his Cousin Sympson, pp. v-vi,^[4]

     And, is there less Probability in my Account of the Houyhnhnms or Yahoos, when it is manifest as to the latter, there are so many Thousands even in this City, who only differ from their Brother Brutes in Houyhnhnmland, because they use a Sort of a Jabber, and do not go naked.

   • 1918, Carl Sandburg, “Jabberers” in Cornhuskers, New York: Henry Holt & Co., p. 68,^[5]

     Two tongues from the depths,

     Alike only as a yellow cat and a green parrot are alike,

     Fling their staccato tantalizations

     Into a wildcat jabber

     Over a gossamer web of unanswerables.

Derived terms

• jabberment (obsolete)

Translations

Etymology 2

jab +? -er

Noun

jabber (plural jabbers)

1. One who or that which jabs.
2. A kind of hand-operated corn planter.
   • 1999, Nicholas P. Hardeman, Across the Bloody Chasm

     The jabber was the most popular hand-operated corn planter ever devised. […] Inset shows jaws closed for jabbing (left) and open for depositing kernels (right).

English

Etymology

From Middle English blaberen.

Pronunciation

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

Verb

blabber (third-person singular simple present blabbers, present participle blabbering, simple past and past participle blabbered)

1. To blather; to talk foolishly or incoherently.
   • 2014, Richard Szweda, Silenius' Gift

     He blabbered away about how he knew where some treasure was hidden and he would tell us if only we would swear to save his life.

2. To blab; to reveal a secret.
3. (Britain, obsolete) To stick out one's tongue.

Synonyms

• (to talk foolishly): See also Thesaurus:prattle
• (to let out a secret): See also Thesaurus:rat out

Translations

Noun

blabber (plural blabbers)

1. A person who blabs; a tattler; a telltale.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:gossiper

Related terms

• blab
• blabbermouth

Translations

Anagrams

• babbler, brabble