▪ I. † ˈdrivel, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 3–6 drivel, 5–6 dryvyl(le, -ell, drevyll, -ill, -ell, drewell, -ill, 6 drivell.
[Early ME.: app. of Low German origin; = MDu. drevel scullion, turnspit, lit. ‘driver, tool for driving’ (OHG. tribil, MHG. tribel, mod.G. triebel driver), f. MDu. drîven, OHG. trîben to drive.]
1. A drudge, a servant doing menial work; a ‘kitchen-knave’.
| a 1225 St. Marher. 18 The driueles unduhti swa duden. c 1230 Hali Meid. 29 And mare beon idrecchet þen eni driuel i þe hus. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 132/2 Dryvylle, serwawnte, ducticius, ducticia. a 1529 Skelton Agst. Garnesche 26 A dyshwasher, a dryvyll. 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. xi. 11 To vse his wife as a vile dreuell, because she is commaunded to obeye. 1580 Baret Alv. D 1305 A Drudge, or driuell..mediastinus. |
2. Hence, opprobriously: a. One deficient in intelligence, an imbecile. [Prob. associated with or influenced by drivel v. 5; cf. driveller.]
| 1478 J. Paston in P. Lett. No. 812. III. 220 So the drevyll lost hys thank of us. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) I. 173 Blame it blynde dryull. c 1555 Schole-ho. Women 795 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 136 Called him drivel and witles man. 1597 1st Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iv. i. 1141 When I loved I was a drivell. |
b. A dirty or foul person, a ‘pig’.
| 1530 Palsgr. 215/2 Drivell, sovillon. 1580 Sidney Arcadia iii. (R.) If thou didst know what a life I lead with that drivel. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. ii. 3 That foule aged dreuill..an incarnate deuill. |
3. A driving tool or instrument.
| 1431–2 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) III. 610 Item ij drewills ponderant' iiijli, vij{supd}. 1573 Lanc. Wills III. 61 Twoo dryvells of iren vj{supd}. |
▪ II. drivel, n.2
(ˈdrɪv(ə)l)
Also 5 drevel, 5–6 drivil, 6–7 drivell. β. 4–5 dravel.
[f. drivel v.]
1. Spittle flowing from the mouth; slaver, dribblings. Now rare.
| ? c 1325 Old Age ii. in Relig. Ant. II. 210 Moch me anueth, That my drivil druith. 1388 Wyclif 1 Sam. xxi. 13 His drauelis [gloss that is, spotelis] flowiden doun. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 599 Orexis, drevel. 1570 Levins Manip. 125/43 Y⊇ Driuil at nose, pus. 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. iv. xx. (R.) He..clear'd the driuell from his beard. 1697 Phil. Trans. XX. 50 The Snivel or Drivel that comes from the Mouth of a Dog..when mad. 1789 M. Madan Persius (1795) 54 note, The child..wet with drivel from the mouth. |
| transf. 1780 J. T. Dillon Trav. Spain (1781) 211 Chequered with small hollow round grains..which I conceive are formed by bubbles of air..forming the drivel of the metal. [Cf. drive v. 26 c.] |
2. Idiotic utterance; silly nonsense; twaddle.
| 1852 Blackie Study Lang. 2 As it begins with dreams, so it must end in drivel. 1860 W. Collins Wom. White iii. 474 The most abject drivel that has ever degraded paper. 1884 J. Sharman Hist. Swearing i. 21 We may have thought..his words the drivel of idiotcy. |
3. Comb., as drivel-bib, a child's bib to intercept the drivelling.
| 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. xi. (1872) 52 Did he, at one time, wear drivel-bibs, and live on spoon-meat? |
▪ III. drivel, v.
(ˈdrɪv(ə)l)
Forms: (1 pres. pple. drefliende), 4 drevele, 4–5 dryvele, 6 Sc. dre(i)fle, 6–7 drivell, 7–8 drivle, 6– drivel. β. 4 dravel-e(n.
[ME. drevel-en corresponds to OE. dreflian; ME. dravel-en indicates an OE. *draflian (not found); these prob. represent OTeut. types *draƀilojan, draƀulojan, f. stem draƀ- (see draff, drof). Drivel is app. a later change: cf. divel.]
I. 1. intr. To let saliva or mucus flow from the mouth or nose, as young children and idiots do; to slaver, dribble.
| c 1000 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 161/34 Reumaticus, saftriende, uel drefliende. 1362 Langl. P.Pl. A. xi. 11 Noli mittere Margeri perles Among hogges..þei don bot drauele þeron [1377 B x. 11 dryuele; 1393 C. xii. 9 dreuele, v.rr. dreuel(en, dryuele, drauele, dreuely(n]. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 599 Orexo [anglice to dryvele.] 1530 Palsgr. 530/1 I drivell, I slaver..He driveleth as he were a yonge chylde. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 122 [A mad dog] Foming and driueling at his mouth. 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 130 As oft as your nose drivles. 1822–34 Good Study Med. (ed. 4) III. 480 The patient feels a tendency to drivel at one corner of the mouth rather than the other. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 212 The..nurse leaves you to drivel, and never wipes your nose. |
† 2. trans. To let (spittle) flow from the mouth; transf. to let flow out through a crack. Obs.
| 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xxxiv. 1 Too feyne himself mad by driveling doune his spittle. 1681 P. Rycaut Critick 67 The rest ran furiously about this tragick Theatre, drivelling out the overflowing Bloud. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. x. 362 The Child..driveled much Spittle. 1707 J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 432 This crack'd Pot..drivels out the Water. |
† 3. intr. To flow as saliva or mucus from the mouth or nose; to flow ineptly from the lips; also transf. of water, etc. Obs.
| 1624, 1804 [see drivelling ppl. a. 1 b]. 1741 Monro Anat. (ed. 3) 120 The Pituita drivelled down from the Emunctory of the Brain. a 1774 Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. I. 404 The water..will not spout at all, but drivel down the side of the vessel. 1784 Cowper Task v. 285 Strange that such folly..Should ever drivel out of human lips. |
† 4. trans. To befoul with spittle; to beslaver.
| 1609 W. M. Man in Moone (Percy Soc.) 8 Then he doth drivell his hostesse. a 1668 Davenant News fr. Plymouth (1673) 22, I will..kiss Thy drivell'd Beard, though drown'd in Breda Beere. |
II. transf. [Referring to the slavering utterance, etc. of infants, and weak-minded persons.]
5. intr. To talk childishly or idiotically; to let silly nonsense drop from the lips; to rave.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 43 Þus þei drauelen on heore deys þe Deite to knowe [v.r. dryuelen, B. x. 56 dryuele, C. xii. 40 dreuelen]. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 292 Be no lier with youre mouthe, ne lykorous, ne dryvelynge. 1704 Swift Mech. Operat. Spirit Misc. (1711) 292 Droning, and dreaming and drivelling to a Multitude. |
6. trans. To utter in a childish, or idiotic way.
| a 1754 Fielding Covent Gard. Jrnl. No. 3, Nor shall it be sufficient for such critic to drivel out, ‘I don't know’. 1780 Cowper Progr. Err. 310 Sniveling and driveling folly without end. |
7. a. trans. To waste or fritter away in a childish or idiotic manner. b. intr. To go on in a feeble or idiotic way.
| 1763 Churchill Poems, Ep. Hogarth 643 To drivel out whole years of Ideot breath. 1832 Examiner 66/2 Every thing has been done to drivel away the popular enthusiasm. 1878 Emerson Misc. Papers, Fort. Republic Wks. (Bohn) III. 391 Drivelling and huckstering away..every principle of humanity. 1885 Law Times 23 May 68/2 He drivels on from year to year, his fine abilities rusting from disuse. |
Hence ˈdrivelled ppl. a.
| c 1325 Poem on Times of Edw. II, lv. (Hardwick) 25 His hod schal hang on his brest, Riȝt as a draveled lowt. 1630 Drayton Muses' Elysium x. (R.) His staring beastly drivel'd beard. a 1668 [see sense 4]. |