different between story vs babble

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?st??.?i/
• Rhymes: -???i

Etymology 1

From Middle English storie, storye, from Anglo-Norman estorie, from Latin historia, from Ancient Greek ??????? (historí?, “learning through research”), from ??????? (historé?, “to research, inquire (and) record”), from ????? (híst?r, “the knowing, wise one”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, know”). Doublet of history and storey.

Alternative forms

• storie (obsolete)

Noun

story (plural stories)

1. A sequence of real or fictional events; or, an account of such a sequence.

   Synonym: tome

   • 1673, William Temple, An Essay upon the Advancement of Trade in Ireland

     it must be exploded for fabulous, with other relics of ancient story.

   • June 1861, Edinburgh Review, The Kingdom of Italy

     Venice, with its unique city and its impressive story

2. A lie, fiction.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lie

3. (US, colloquial, usually pluralized) A soap opera.

   Synonym: serial

   • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things

     He stood on the doorstep for a minute, listening for sounds inside the house — a radio, a TV tuned to one of the stories […]

4. (obsolete) History.
   • 1644, John Milton, Aeropagitica:

     […] who is so unread or so uncatechis'd in story, that hath not heard of many sects refusing books as a hindrance, and preserving their doctrine unmixt for many ages, only by unwritt'n traditions.

5. A sequence of events, or a situation, such as might be related in an account.

   Synonym: narrative

6. (social media) A chronological collection of pictures or short videos published by a user on an application or website that is typically only available for a short period.

Usage notes

• (soap opera): Popularized in the 1950s, when soap operas were often billed as "continuing stories", the term "story" to describe a soap opera fell into disuse by the 21st century and is now used chiefly among older people and in rural areas. Other English-speaking countries used the term at its zenith as a "loaned" word from the United States.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Welsh: stori

Translations

Verb

story (third-person singular simple present stories, present participle storying, simple past and past participle storied)

1. To tell as a story; to relate or narrate about.
   • 1648, John Wilkins, Mathematical Magick

     It is storied of the brazen colossus in Rhodes, that it was seventy cubits high.

Etymology 2

Probably as etymology 1, since historia already had this meaning in medieval Anglo-Latin. An alternative suggestion derives it from Old French *estoree (“a thing built, a building”), from estoree (“built”), feminine past participle of estorer (“to build”), from Latin instauro (“to construct, build, erect”).

Alternative forms

• storey (UK)

Noun

story (plural stories)

1. (obsolete) A building or edifice.
2. (chiefly US) A floor or level of a building; a storey.

   Synonyms: floor, level

   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, chapter I:

     The lower story of the market-house was open on all four of its sides to the public square.

3. (typography) Alternative form of storey

Translations

Usage notes

See storey.

References

Anagrams

• ryots, stroy, tyros

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French estoree, past participle of estorer. Alternatively, the same word as storie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?st?ri?(?)/, /?st??ri?(?)/

Noun

story (plural storyes) (rare)

1. A level of a building.
2. A line of paddles on a ship.

Descendants

• English: story, storey

References

• “st?r?(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-04-05.

Etymology 2

From Old French estorie, estoire.

Verb

story

1. Alternative form of storie

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