▪ I. gabber, n.1
(ˈgæbə(r))
Also 4–5 gabbere, 5 gabbar.
[f. gab v.1 + -er1.]
One who gabs.
† 1. A mocker; a deceiver; a liar. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶15 He is a Iaper and a gabber, and no verray repentant, that eftsoone dooth thyng, for which hym oghte repente. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xiv. 160, I schal speke a litille more of the Dyamandes..to the ende that thei that knowen hem not, be not disceyved be Gabberes [F. barratours], that gon be the Contree, that sellen hem. 1450 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 237 Gabberys gloson eny whare. |
2. One who utters ‘gabs’ (see gab n.1 2).
| 1869 T. Wright in Student II. 449 Sir Ken was celebrated as the most accomplished gabber in King Arthur's court. |
▪ II. gabber, n.2
(ˈgæbə(r))
[f. gab v.2 + -er1.]
A chatterer, prater.
| 1793 Char. in Ann. Reg. 250 My reputation of being a good gabber, that is to say, possessing a considerable share of low quaint language. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xv. (1857) 339 The direction will be apparently in the hands of a few fluent gabbers. |
▪ III. † ˈgabber, v. Obs.—1
[onomatopœic; cf. jabber, gibber, also gab n.2 and v.2, gabble. Du. gabberen has the same sense.]
trans. To talk volubly, to jabber.
| 1706–7 Farquhar Beaux Strat. iii. i, He and the count's footman were gabbering French. 1808 Jamieson, Gabber, to jabber, to gibber, to talk incoherently. |
Hence ˈgabbering vbl. n. Also ˈgabber n., jabber.
| 1796 Coleridge in Mrs. Sandford T. Poole & Friends (1888) I. 155 Their unmeaning gabber of flattery. 1822 T. Bewick Mem. 4 The gabbering and noise they made, was enough to stun any one. |