▪ I. slabbering, vbl. n.
(ˈslæbərɪŋ)
[f. slabber v.]
1. The action of the verb, in various senses.
| 1611 Cotgr., Patouil, a padling, dabling, slabbering. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. ii. 169/2 Call not your Laundresse slut or slabb'ring queane, It is her slabb'ring that doth keepe thee cleane. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 223 Glasses of Rose-Water poured on our Garments to excessive slabbering. 1766 Compl. Farmer s.v. Staggers, It is a good sign if he..drinks freely without slabbering. 1894 Crockett Raiders v. 55 All his work was only slabbering with paint. |
2. a. slabbering-bib, a bib, esp. for a child, to protect the clothes from falling saliva.
| 1648 Hexham ii, Een Zeever-doeck, a Slabbering-bibb. 1673 Humours Town 27 They are but petty Striplings, scarce out of their Slabbering-bibs. 1714 Mandeville Fable Bees (1733) II. 176 We say, that a man wants a slabbering-bibb, when he behaves very sillily. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia vi. viii, Lady Honoria..seized one of the napkins, and protested she would send it to Mortimer for a slabbering-bib. |
| transf. 1796 Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), Slabbering bib, a parson or lawyer's band. |
b. slabbering-bit: (see quot.).
| 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl., Mastigadour, or Slabbering-Bit, in the manege, is a snaffle of iron, all smooth, and of a piece [etc.]. |
▪ II. ˈslabbering, ppl. a.
[f. slabber v.]
1. Characterized by slabbering.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. (1879) 78 They get many a slabbering kisse. 1747 Gentl. Mag. 191 I've now and then a slabb'ring kiss. 1808 Jamieson, To Slaik,..to kiss in a slabbering manner. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xvi. 44 A continual slabbering sound is made in the cheeks. |
2. That slabbers, in various senses.
| 1630 [see slabbering vbl. n. 1]. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 1045 He all to bespattered him with his railing and slabbering tongue. 1764 Museum Rust. I. 451 Aukward slabbering sky-farmers. a 1774 Goldsm. tr. Scarron's Com. Romance (1775) I. 42 Set down that slabbering milksop..and let her shift for herself. |