ˈpribble
Weakened echo of prabble, used along with it in the phr. pribble and prabble, and the reduplicated pribble-prabble = Petty disputation, paltry discussion, vain chatter.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. i. 56 It were a goot motion, if we leaue our pribbles and prabbles, and desire a marriage betweene Master Abraham, and Mistris Anne Page. 1615 Val. Welshm. (1663) B iij, Cousin Caradoc, well, in all these pribble-prabbles, how doth our Uncle Cadallan? 1769 Stratford Jubilee ii. i. 29 Without any balderdash pribble⁓prabble. 1824 S. E. Ferrier Inher. xiv, Miss P.'s pribble prabble was, therefore, music to her ear. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes ii, All these squabbles and jokes, and pribbles and prabbles,..may be omitted. |