▪ I. gab, n.1
(gæb)
Also 3–4 gabbe.
[a. OF. gab (also gap; inflected ga-s) masc., gabe fem., mockery, derision; cf. It. gabbo jest, and ON. gabb neut., mockery. See gab v.1]
† 1. Mockery, derisive deception; a lie, deceit. without gab [OF. sanz gas]: without deception, of a surety. Obs.
| a 1300 Floriz & Bl. 489 For ihc wene bithute gabbe Þat þe Admiral me wule habbe. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xv. 49 Syker hit siweth me ful sore, Gabbes les ant luthere lore, sunnes bueth un-sete. c 1320 Cast. Love 507 Hose Pees loueþ, wiþ-outen gabbe, Pees wiþ-outen ende he schal habbe. 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 2888 Þou schalt habbe..half mi lond wiþ-outen gabbe. |
† b. A taunt. Obs.
| a 1225 Leg. Kath. 2269 Porphire and alle hise..wið se soðe gabbes gremeden him se sare þæt [etc.]. |
2. An idle vaunt, a piece of brag or bravado. Also Hist. of the ‘gabs’ of Charlemagne and his knights (see quot. 1846). (The corresponding word in German chivalric romance was gelpf = OE. ᵹielp.)
| 1737 Ozell Rabelais II. 226 note, Upon his saying, only by way of Gab..that [etc.]. 1846 Wright Ess. Mid. Ages II. ii. 39 Charlemagne and his twelve peers..began each to make his ‘gab’, or joke, which consisted in an extravagant gasconade. 1889 C. T. Martin Gaimar's Lestorie des Engles II. p. xxxviii, The first is the Gab of Walter Tirel and the King..The King replies at once by more Gab. |
▪ II. gab, n.2
(gæb)
Not in dignified use.
[See gab v.2 In Sc. often associated with gab n.3]
1. The action of gabbing or talking; conversation, prattle, talk, twaddle. Also jocular nonce-use: A language.
| 1790 A. Wilson 3rd Ep. to W. Mitchell, Perhaps Rob G―y's auld grey pate..May join the social gab. 1811 J. Poole Hamlet Travestie i. iii. 10 Then hold your gab, and hear what I've to tell. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 58 The captain hates ‘a woman's gab’. a 1845 Hood Sir J. Bowring 5 All kinds of gabs he talks, I wis, From Latin down to Scottish. 1863 Reade Hard Cash II. xv. 240 ‘Come, stash your gab, my lad’, said Green. 1874 Greville Mem. Geo. IV (1875) III. xxiii. 72 They certainly can't get the best of him at the gab. 1887 Punch 10 Sept. 111/1 Gladstone's gab about ‘masses and classes’ is all tommy rot. 1893 Stevenson Catriona 19 There's no fair way to stop your gab. |
b. the gift of the gab: a talent for speaking, fluency of speech. (Sc. also gift of the gob.)
| [1681 see gob.] 1785 in Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue. 1794 Godwin Caleb Williams 29 We knew well enough that he had the gift of the gab. 1820 J. W. Croker in Croker Papers (1884) 20 Dec., A government cannot go on without the gift of the gab. 1850 T. A. Trollope Impress. Wand. vii. 100 Our good gentle Florentines have a very inordinate gift of the gab. |
2. slang. In phrases to blow the gab: to blab, give information, ‘peach’. (Cf. gaff n.2 2.) to flash the gab: to show off in talk, to hold forth.
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v., To blow the gab, to confess, or peach. 1819 Moore Tom Crib's Mem. (1821) 12 While his Lordship..that very great dab At the flowers of rhet'ric is flashing his gab. 1834 H. Ainsworth Rookwood iii. v, Never blow the gab, or squeak. |
3. attrib. and Comb. (jocular), as in gab-machine, gab-shop; gab-trees, the jaws.
| 1728 W. Starrat Ep. to Ramsay 38 Sae gash thy gab⁓trees gang. 1797 M. Robinson Walsingham IV. 13, ‘I always dose at the gab-shop’ [i.e. the House of Commons], replied he. 1866 Lowell Biglow P. Poet. Wks. 1890 II. 379 Nut while the twolegged gab-machine's so plenty, 'nablin' one man to du the talk o' twenty. |
▪ III. gab, n.3 Sc.
(gæb)
[var. of gob.]
The mouth. to steek one's gab: to be silent, make one silent.
| 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 8 He dighted his gab and pri'd her mou'. 1725 ― Gent. Sheph. i. i, Bannocks and a shave of cheese Will make a breakfast that..Might please the daintiest gabs. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Gab, or Gob, the mouth. 1786 Burns Ordination ix, Now Robinson harangue nae mair, But steek your gab for ever. a 1810 Tannahill Poems (1846) 105 Her mou's like the gab o' the fleuk. 1810 J. Cock Simple Strains 136 (Jam.) His menseless gab was fairly steeket. 1820 Scott Abbot xiv, ‘Now, my mates’..‘once again dight your gabs and be hushed.’ 1861 Ramsay Remin. Ser. ii. 55 ‘I'm unco yuckie to hear a blaud o' yer gab.’ |
b. Comb.: gab string slang (see quot.).
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Gab or gob string, a bridle. |
▪ IV. gab, n.4
(gæb)
[Of obscure origin: cf. Flem. gabbe notch, gash (in Kilian, glossed ‘incisura’).]
(See quot. 1888.)
| 1792 Specif. Kelly's Patent No. 1879. 8 Clear of the notch or gabb of the catch lever. 1839 R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Eng. 95 In the end of the rod is a notch, called a gab. 1846 Young Naut. Dict. s.v. Steam-engine §32 The eccentric has a notch, or gab as it is called, fitting a pin in the gab-lever. 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., Gab, a hook, or open notch, in a rod or lever, which drops over a spindle, and forms a temporary connection between valve or other motions. |
b. Comb.: gab-lever (see quot. 1888).
| 1839 R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Eng. 97 When the notch in the rod is engaged with the stud on the gab lever, the engine works itself. 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., Gab Lever, generally any lever which is connected up by means of a gab; specifically the lever which forms the connection between the slide valve spindle and the eccentric rod in some forms of marine engine valve. |
▪ V. gab, v.1
(gæb)
Forms: 2–4 gabbe-n, 4–6 gabb(e, (5 gabe), 3– gab.
[app. a. OF. gab(b)er (also written gauber, gaiber, once, perh. erroneously, jaber), to mock, deride, jest; the word is found (perh. as an adoption from OFr.) as Pr. and OSp. gabar, It. gabbare, to mock, jest, Pg. gabar to praise, refl. to boast. Cf. the related gab n.1
Most etymologists regard the Rom. vb. and n. as adoptions of the Teut. words which appear as ON. gabba to mock, gabb mockery (gab n.1), OFris. gabbia to accuse, prosecute (cf. sense 1 below), MDu. and MLG. gabben to mock, deceive. But in words of early adoption, Teut. ga- normally became ja- in Central French; further, the occurrence of bb in Teut. words (apart from hypocoristic and onomatopœic formations and WGer. bb from ƀj) is rare and etymologically obscure; and the chronology of the various Teut. forms would not forbid the supposition that they were all adopted from OFr. If the words be either Teut. or Rom. formations from a Teutonic root, they may perhaps be connected ultimately with gape v.; cf. the Icel. use of gap in the sense of clamour, jeers; on the other hand they may be onomatopœic formations expressing the notion of loud outcry, chatter; cf. gab v.2, gabble, gaggle v.]
† 1. trans. To reproach, accuse. Obs.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 65 We aȝen to gabben us seluen forþat we syneȝeden, alse þe holie man iob seið, Reprehendo me..Ich haue syneȝed and gabbe me suluen þeroffe. |
† 2. intr. To speak mockingly, to scoff. Const. on, upon. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 200 Lauhwen oðer gabben, ȝif him misbiueolle. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 2115 Þou gabbest on me so, Mi nem nil me nouȝt se. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 347 Þis blaspheme gabbiþ upon God, and seiþ þat al þ is is Goddis werk. c 1550 Hye waye to Spyttel Ho. 338 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 42 Where they lyst, for to gabbe and rayle. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 106 Doth sea ingender flame? You gabb fonde poetts, or in bowrde, You blason Neptune's name. |
† b. trans. To mock. Obs.
| c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xiv. 338 Ye wynne not moche by, for to gabbe me of this facyon. |
† 3. intr. To lie, tell lies. Obs.
| a 1300 Sarmun 47 in E.E.P. (1862) 6 Soþ to sigge and noȝt to gab. a 1300 Cursor M. 5173 Yee gab and, certes, yee ha sin. 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 2470 Y no gabbe nouȝt, for sothe to say. 1375 Barbour Bruce iv. 290 [Scho] askit quhy he gabbit had Of the Ansuer that he hir mad. c 1400 Destr. Troy 4303 As the gospell of God, þat gabbis not, says. c 1450 Merlin 31, I pray yow that ye sey the trouthe..and wite ye well yef ye gabbe enythynge, I know it wele i-nough. c 1475 Partenay 2410 A king ne shold lye ne be gabbyng. |
† b. trans. To tell lies to, to deceive. Obs.
| c 1275 Sermun 36 in O.E. Misc. 188 Bachares and brueres for alle men heo gabbe. c 1325 Metr. Hom. 7 That wiht lesinge Gabbid Adam and his ofspringe. c 1440 York Myst. xiii. 141 We! why gab ye me swa. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxviii. 243 Might I se ihesu gost and flesh gropyng shuld not gab me. |
4. intr. To boast, brag. quasi-arch. and Hist. (A modern adoption of the OF. word as occurring in the Charlemagne romances.)
| 1825 Scott Talism. ii, Their fashion..is..to gab of that which they dare not undertake. 1846 Wright Ess. Mid. Ages I. ii. 39 Even Turpin, the archbishop, gabbed; and his boast was [etc.]. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xii, He would chant his own doughty deeds; and gab (as the Norman word was) in painful earnest. |
▪ VI. gab, v.2
(gæb)
[app. onomatopœic; cf. gabble v.]
intr. To talk much or glibly; to chatter, prate.
| 1786 Burns Earnest Cry x, Could I like Montgomeries fight, Or gab like Boswell. ? a 1800 Earl Richard xvii. in Child Ballads iii. lxviii. (1885) 149/1, ‘I wad shoot this wee pyet Sits gabbing on the tree.’ 1844 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 293 [He] came in to tea and sat there gabbing till ten o'clock. 1883 Black Yolande xx, 'Bout him the carles were gabbin'. |
Hence ˈgabbing vbl. n., chatter, idle talk; ˈgabbing ppl. a., that gabs; chattering, glib-tongued.
| 1794 Flowers of Forest in Ritson's Sc. Songs II. 3 Nae daffin, nae gabbin, but sighing and sabbing. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. ii. v. (1849) 56 Giving such gabbing the go by. 1837 R. Nicoll Poems (1842) 79 He's a gash, gabbin' birkie, the Auld Beggar Man. |
▪ VII. † gab, v.3 Obs.
[Cf. dial. gobber-tooth, gubber-tush, a projecting tooth; also gag v.2 2, gag-tooth.]
intr. Of teeth: To project.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xi. xxxvii. I. 337 They [teeth] stand gabbing out of the mouth. |
Hence † gabbed ppl. a., projecting.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xi. xxxvii. I. 337 Goats haue none aboue but the 2 foreteeth. None haue gabbed tusks standing forth of the mouth. |