drivel - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English dravel, dribil, a deverbal from drevelen, drivelen (Etymology 2).[1]

drivel (countable and uncountable, plural drivels)

  1. Nonsense; senseless talk.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nonsense
    • 1879, Henry James, chapter XVII, in Confidence, London: Chatto & Windus:
      “You pay too much attention to such insipid drivel in even mentioning it.”
    • 2020 August 26, Nigel Harris, “Comment Special: Catastrophe at Carmont”, in Rail, page 4:
      A ray of light amid all this nonsense was Gwyn Topham's piece in the Guardian, which was timely, measured, accurate and of appropriate tone. That this single report stood out so clearly as an exemplar is a scathing comment in itself on the volumes of drivel surrounding it.
    • 2024 November 25, Max Brockman, “P.I. Undercover: New York” (1:41 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows‎[1], season 6, episode 8, spoken by Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch):
      “Yeah, wading down into the comments. "Winsomely compelling cop-aganda," says C-Rob-69. Oh, wait, that was me.” “Drivel for the unwashed. The Bard, how he weeps.”
  2. (now somewhat rare) Saliva, drool.
    • 1997, Mike Allen, “Super Shopper”, in Fresh from Mount Salvage, Elizabethtown, Ky.: Light Lines Press, →ISBN, page 122:
      He pauses as I wipe the drivel from his chin.
    • 2012, Roland Curram, “Life Changes”, in The Problem with Happiness, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, →ISBN, part 1, page 82:
      She wipes some drivel from his chin with a Kleenex, which she throws away in the bin, then sits and clasps his hand in hers.

senseless talk

saliva, drool

From Middle English drevelen, drivelen, from Old English dreflian (“to drivel, slobber, slaver”), from Proto-Germanic *drablijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerebʰ- (“cloudy, turbid; yeast”).[2]

drivel (third-person singular simple present drivels, present participle (US) driveling or (UK) drivelling, simple past and past participle (US) driveled or (UK) drivelled)

  1. To talk nonsense; to talk senselessly; to drool.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nonsense
  2. (archaic, intransitive) To have saliva drip from the mouth.
    Synonym: drool
  3. To be weak or foolish; to dote.

to have saliva drip from the mouth

Translations to be checked

From Middle English drivel, probably from driven + -el, unless borrowed from an equivalent word in another West Germanic language. Compare Old Dutch drevel (“scullion”).[3]

drivel (plural drivels) (obsolete)

  1. A servant; a drudge.
  2. A fool; an idiot.

Perhaps a blend of drive +‎ dribble.

drivel (third-person singular simple present drivels, present participle (US) driveling or (UK) drivelling, simple past and past participle (US) driveled or (UK) drivelled)

  1. To move or travel slowly.
    • 1865 October 7, The Mercury, Hobart, page 2:
      But that is a state of things, which must in time work its own cure. We cannot always go dribbling and drivelling along, government and people alike being the scoff of all onlookers.
    • 1872 October 29, The Newcastle Chronicle, NSW, page 4:
      There was a good deal of bustle and life at the inn; but three or four inebriates drivelling about the premises were 'suffering a recovery,' from the excitement of the previous night's entertainment.
    • 1914 May 30, The Darling Downs Gazette, Qld, page 2:
      Walter was as silly as most men are when in love. He went drivelling off in pursuit of her "dear little work-worn hands"[.]
    • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 122:
      Drivelling back to the shanty at midday presented him with a distracting gamble over lunch.
    • 1939 September 15, The Daily Examiner, Grafton, NSW, page 5:
      "I am amazed to think we are in the second week of war and this country is still drivelling along with a small volunteer force," he added.
  2. To use up or to be used up.
    • 1858 August 17, The Ovens and Murray Advertiser, Beechworth, Vic, page 2:
      Instead of drivelling away the precious initiative season of life in the vain labour of teaching tuneable voices to sing[.]
    • 1872 August 31, The Mercury, Hobart, page 2:
      It is for the country to say whether we are to keep on in this backward course, whether we are to go on getting deeper and deeper into debt, whether we are to have increased taxation year after year. The bone and sinew of the land is drivelling away.
  1. ^ “drivel, _n._2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  2. ^ “drivel, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  3. ^ “drivel, _n._1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.