gubbins, n. pl.
(ˈgʌbɪnz)
Also gubbings. Rarely sing.
[var. of gobbon.]
1. Fragments, esp. of fish; fish-parings. In later use (also const. sing.), trash; anything of little value; a gadget, thingummy. In sing., a fragment. Also fig. and attrib.
| 1553 Respublica i. i. 40 in Brandl Dramas (1898) 286 The skimmynges, the gubbins of booties and praies. 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 73 Hough you hungerstarued gubbins, or offalles of men, how thriue you? 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. ii. 165 To be a Laundres, imports onely to wash or dresse Lawne, which is as much impeachment as to cal..a Fishmonger, a seller of Gubbins. Ibid. iii. 64/2 All that they could buy, or sell, or barter, Would scarce be worth a Gubbin once a quarter. 1677 Miege Fr. Dict., Gubbings, the parings of haberdine, coupures ou rongnures de poisson. 1696 Phillips, A Gubbin (old word), a fragment. 1721–1800 Bailey, Gubbins, Fragments; the Parings of Haberdine, Codfish, &c. 1754 in Hone Every-day Bk. (1827) II. 827 Cold provisions..by a cant name he usually called ‘his gubbins’. 1918 P. MacGill Glenmornan v. 106 That gubbin iv land was at one time nothin' but a bare rock. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 112 Gubbins, mere stuff. Trash. Anything of no value—e.g., ‘That's only gubbins, all rot!’ Also, personal effects—e.g., ‘See after my gubbins, will you?’ 1944 Amer. Speech XIX. 280 A gubbins is used to describe almost any part of the equipment of a plane, with about the same meaning as gadget. 1958 I. Brown Words our Time 60 You can save more petrol by how you drive than with the gubbinses now floating around. 1965 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 5 Dec. 16 Many machines flying have a vast illicit complement of rivets, nails, nuts, bolts, torches, pliers and half-eaten sandwiches... One of the modern test pilot's less enviable jobs is to fly new aircraft upside down and try to catch the gubbins as it hurtles past his face. 1968 New Scientist 3 Oct. 8/2 Behind that again is the engine and propeller, the fuel tank and various bits of ‘gubbins’. |
2. a. A contemptuous name formerly given to the inhabitants of a district near Brent Tor on the edge of Dartmoor, who are said to have been absolute savages. Obs. exc. Hist.
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Devonshire i. (1662) 248 The Gubbings (so now I dare call them secured by distance) which one of more valour durst not do to their Face..The Gubbings-Land is a Scythia within England, and they pure Heathens therein. 1836 A. E. Bray Descr. Tamar & Tavy I. Let. xiv. 253 Even at the present day, the term Gubbins is well known in the vicinity..They still have the reputation of having been a wild and almost savage race. 1887 Cornh. Mag. Nov. 508 The race of ‘Gubbins’, as Fuller calls them, may die out. 1900 Scott. N. & Q. Mar. 139/1 Those Welsh bandits recall the Dartmoor ‘Gubbins’ or ‘gubbings’ familiar to readers of Westward Ho. |
b. colloq. A fool, a duffer.
| 1916 E. F. Benson David Blaize vii. 124 ‘Silly gubbins,’ she said. 1955 ‘E. C. R. Lorac’ Ask a Policeman ii. 25 If we only get these old gubbinses out I could let the rooms proper. 1957 [see batter n.4]. |