▪ I. slabber, n.1
(ˈslæbə(r))
[Related to slabber v. Cf. G. schlabber slaver, slush, street-mud; older Da. slabber muddy ground.]
1. Slaver; excessive saliva. Also slabber-like.
| 1718 Ozell tr. Tournefort's Voy. I. 193 This Surface is supple, cover'd with a gluey slabber-like Liquor. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 140 The Slabber which may distil out of his Mouth. |
2. Slobbering talk.
| 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xvi. 44 The language of these people..is the most brutish and inhuman language..that could well be conceived of. It is a complete slabber. |
3. Sc. Soft mud; slop, slush.
| 1887 Jamieson's Dict. Suppl. 221/2. |
▪ II. slabber, n.2
(ˈslæbə(r))
[f. slab v.3 + -er1.]
a. A saw or machine for removing the outside slabs from timber, or dressing the outer portion of logs. b. A machine for dressing nuts or bolts.
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2197/2. |
c. A workman who cuts or forms materials into slabs.
An early form of the word may occur in the proper name Ric. Sclaber (1327), Ric. le Sclabber (1333): see N. & Q. (1963) July 256/1.
| 1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §118 Slabber, cements together tiles and other shaped articles for hearths, kerbs, etc. Ibid. §159 Slabber,..cuts blocks of gelatine..into slabs. 1977 New Society 25 Aug. 387/1 His heavy manual work as a fireplace ‘tile slabber’. |
▪ III. slabber, v. Now chiefly dial.
(ˈslæbə(r))
Also 6 slabour, 7 slabbor.
[prob. of Du. or LG. origin: cf. Du. slabberen, LG. slabbern (G. schlabbern, schlappern), Fris. slabberje, older Da. slabre, a frequentative of slabben, etc.: see slab v.2, and cf. slobber, slubber. The compound bislaberen occurs in ME.]
1. trans. To wet or befoul with saliva; to beslaver or beslobber.
| 1579 W. Fulke Conf. Sanders 657 This was no great honouring of that holy yron, to put it to bee champed and slaboured in an horse mouth. 1619 Harris Drunkard's Cup 28 A Spaniell..will leape vpon him, slabber his cloathes. 1650 Weldon Crt. Jas. I, i. 102 The K[ing] hung about his neck, slabboring his cheeks. 1712 Arbuthnot J. Bull iii. vi, He..slabber'd me all over from Cheek to Cheek, with his great Tongue. 1753 Smollett Ct. Fathom (1784) 64 He..began to slabber his companions, with a most bear-like affection. 1818 Hazlitt Eng. Poets vi. (1870) 151 How Gargantua mewls, and pules, and slabbers his nurse. 1865 Atkinson Prov. Danby (MS.), Slabber, to wet the thread with saliva in the process of spinning. |
| refl. 1668 Pepys Diary 26 Mar., Eating of sack posset, and slabbering themselves. |
| fig. 1637 J. Williams Holy Table 86 So as you eat cleanly, & do not slubber & slabber your quotations of those books. |
2. To wet in a dirty or disagreeable manner.
| 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 106 Her milke pan and creame pot, so slabbered and sost. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. ii. 22/1 We were enclosed with most dangerous sands. There were we sowsd & slabberd, wash'd & dash'd. 1675 Hobbes Odyss. vi. 49 A pure and undecaying firmament, Which..Nor wet nor slabber'd is with showr of rain. 1822 Scott Nigel xvii, A huge book..whose leaves, stained with wine, and slabbered with tobacco juice [etc.]. 1901 Stafford Chron. 25 Oct. (E.D.D.), Cyclists on a wet day get slabbered. |
3. To gobble up, swallow down, in a hurried or unrefined manner. Cf. slab v.2
| 1573 Baret Alv. s.v., To Slabber vp potage halfe hoate & halfe colde. 1682 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 53 (1713) II. 85 Their Leading-men..void Pamphlets..so thick, that their hungry Spectators cannot slabber them up fast enough. 1689 G. Harvey Curing Dis. by Expect. vii. 48 A course of Waters slabber'd down..do undoubtedly very much prolong the interval of fits. |
4. intr. To let saliva flow or fall from the mouth; to slaver, dribble; to disgorge water.
| 1648 Hexham ii, Zeeveren, to Slabber like young children. 1678 Lond. Gaz. No. 1272/4 He is..given to slabber in his speech. 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 217 Two young Tritons, and three Dolphins, that slabber into the same Bason. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. xlii. 322 How did he use to hang, till he slabbered again, poor doting old man! 1793 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Odes to Pope Wks. 1812 III. 220 Slabbering, whining, crying. |
5. To flow in a viscid or sloppy manner.
| 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. ix. (1653) 164 Their spittle slabbering forth. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xix. ¶1 The Mettal may spill or slabber over the Mouth of..the Mold. |
6. Sc. To work in a sloppy manner.
| 1831 Scott Jrnl. (1890) II. 369 This morning, when I came down-stairs, I found Mr. Macdonald [a sculptor] slabbering away at the model. 1894 [see slabbering vbl. n. 1]. |
Hence ˈslabbered ppl. a.
| 1609 J. Davies (Heref.) Hum. Heaven on Earth vi. Wks. (Grosart) I. 6 Ouer all, he ware a slabberd Gowne. 1638 Randolph Hey for Honesty iv. iii, The rugged wrincles of her slabber'd face. 1742 Young Nt. Th. iii. 337 For what live ever here?.. To see what we have seen? Hear, till unheard, the same old slabber'd tale? 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxvii, A hadden tongue..makes a slabbered mouth. 1857 Thoreau Maine W. i. (1864) 46 A few..slabbered slices of pork. |