driveller, -eler
(ˈdrɪv(ə)lə(r))
[f. drivel v. + -er1.]
1. One who drivels or slavers.
| 1530 Palsgr. 215/2 Drivelar that driveleth, baueux. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 119 The other [cattle]..do greatly desire and delight in that which these driuelers do leaue vpon the edges of the rackes, and licke it away. 1728 Morgan Algiers I. vi. 206 The proudest Arab..never disdains to kiss the..garments of any squalid Scoundrel, if a Natural Drivler, or a reputed Marabboth. 1841–4 Emerson Ess., Prudence Wks. (Bohn) I. 98 The pitiful drivellers whom travellers describe as frequenting the bazaars of Constantinople. |
2. One who talks or acts in a babyish or idiotic way; a drivelling idiot or fool.
| 1710 Steele Tatler No. 208 ¶8 An errant Driveler. 1761 Colman Jealous Wife ii. ii, Sure you imagine me an idiot, a driveller. 1790 Burke Corr. (1844) III. 159 He had been..a driveller in policy, if he had done otherwise than he did. 1825 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 67/1 It is the argument of a driveller to other drivellers. 1859 Macaulay Biog. (1867) 204 Pitt's..military administration was that of a driveller. |