Advertisement

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Origin and history of drivel

drivel(v.)

Old English dreflian "to slaver, slobber, run at the nose," from Proto-Germanic *drab-, perhaps from a PIE *dher- (1) "to make muddy, darken." Transferred meaning "to speak nonsense" is mid-14c., driveling being characteristic of children, idiots, and dotards. Related: Driveling, drivelling.

drivel(n.)

early 14c., drevel "saliva, slaver," from drivel (v.). Meaning "senseless twaddle, idiotic speech or writing" is by 1852.

also from early 14c.

Entries linking to drivel

drool(v.)

"drivel, slobber, drip saliva, as an infant does," 1802, drule, apparently a dialectal variant or contraction of drivel. Related: Drooled; drooling. The noun is from 1869.

    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Trends of drivel

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    tor
    "high, rocky hill," Old English torr "rock, crag;" said to be a different word than torr "tower." Obviously cognate with Gaelic torr "lofty hill, mound," Old Welsh twrr "heap, pile;" and perhaps ultimately with Latin turris "high structure" (see tower (n.)). But sources disagree
    rot
    Middle English roten, from Old English rotian, of animal substances, "to decay, putrefy, undergo natural decomposition" (intransitive), also of vegetable matter," from Proto-Germanic *rutjan (source also of Old Saxon roton, Old Norse rotna, Old Frisian rotia, Middle Dutch roten,
    substance
    c. 1300, substaunce, "divine part or essence" common to the persons of the Trinity;" mid-14c. in philosophy and theology, "that which exists by itself; essential nature; type or kind of thing; real or essential part;" from Old French sustance, substance "goods, possessions; natur
    content
    early 15c., "to rest or be satisfied; to give satisfaction to," from Old French contenter (from content (adj.) "satisfied") and Medieval Latin contentare, both from Latin contentus "contained; satisfied," past participle of continere "to hold together, enclose," from assimilated
    message
    c. 1300, "a communication transmitted via a messenger, a notice sent through some agency," from Old French message "message, news, tidings, embassy" (11c.), from Medieval Latin missaticum, from Latin missus "a sending away, sending, dispatching; a throwing, hurling," noun use of
    pap
    "soft food for infants, gruel, porridge," late 14c., from Old French pape "watered gruel" and Medieval Latin papo, both from Latin pappa, a widespread word in children's language for "food" (compare Middle High German and Dutch pap, German Pappe, Spanish, Portuguese papa, Italian
    salver
    "large, heavy plate or tray on which anything is presented," 1660s, formed in English on the model of platter, etc., from French salve "tray used for presenting objects to the king" (17c.), from Spanish salva "a foretasting of the food or drink" of one's master, to test it for po
    serval
    African wild cat, a name applied in zoology to various wild cats since 1771, from Modern Latin serval, French serval (Buffon, 1765), from Portuguese (lobo) cerval "lynx," from Latin lupus cervarius (source of French loup cervier) "lynx," etymologically "wolf that hunts the stag,"
    bunk
    1758, "sleeping-berth in a vessel," later in a railway car, etc., probably a shortened form of bunker (n.) in its sense of "seat." Bunk-bed (n.) attested by 1869...."nonsense," 1900, short for bunkum, phonetic spelling of Buncombe, a county in North Carolina. The usual story (att
    spittle
    "saliva, spit, mucous substance secreted by the saliva glands," late 15c., probably an alteration (by influence of spit (n.1)) of Middle English spetel, spotel, from Old English spætl, spatl, from Proto-Germanic *spait- (source also of Old English spætan "to spit"), from PIE root

    Share drivel

    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Trending
    Dictionary entries near drivel
    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.