ˈbletherskate, ˈblatherskite dial. and U.S. colloq.
[f. blether v. + skate in Sc. used contemptuously. The Scotch song Maggie Lauder, in which this word occurs, was a favourite ditty in the American Camp during the War of Independence (J. Grant Wilson, Poets and Poetry of Scotl. I. 82); from this, bletherskate or, as more commonly used, blatherskite, became a familiar colloquialism in U.S.]
a. A noisy talkative fellow; a talker of blatant nonsense. Hence also a vbl. n. blatherskiting; bletherumskite (Ir. dial.) = blether n.
| c 1650 F. Sempill Maggie Lauder i, Jog on your gait, ye bletherskate [v.r. bladderskate]. 1848–60 Bartlett Americanisms 35 Blatherskite, a blustering, noisy, talkative fellow. 1864 Webster, Blatherskite (‘Local U.S.’). 1864 Spectator No. 1884. 906 A muddle-headed ‘bletherskite’ called Colorado Jewett. 1880 Echo 28 Dec. 3/5 What is expressed by the slang word ‘blatherskiting,’ consumed three of the five days. |
b. Foolish talk; nonsense.
| 1825 T. C. Croker Tradit. S. Ireland 170 He was, as usual, getting on with his bletherumskite about the fairies. 1861 N.Y. Tribune 28 Dec., To wit, our proving, not by verbal blatherskyte, but by facts, that the C.S.A. is dependent on us. 1892 J. Barlow Bog-land 82 Wid your little black book full o' blatheremskyte. 1894 Daily News 29 May 5/1 It is still six hundred pages of sheer blood and blatherumskite. 1907 G. B. Shaw John Bull's Other Is. 111, There's too much blatherumskite in Irish politics. 1956 C. Wilson Outsider ix. 272 For Nietzsche..there is no such thing as abstract knowledge; there is only useful knowledge and unprofitable blatherskite. |