babblemouth

plural babblemouths

1. derogatoryinformalOne who babbles.

   “Quiet, babblemouths, or the bees will come and add a little more bounce to this old man’s strut!”

   1999, DeWanna Pace, A Taste of Honey, New York, N.Y.: Jove Books, →ISBN, page 249

   5 more examples

   It’s a slow-dazzle performance that leaves you wishing the film would pair him up with Adams (a brief dalliance between them is inexplicably dropped) instead of sending his dancer wife, a neurotic babblemouth, back home to him.

   1985 September 3, Scott Rosenberg, “Yuppie love: Down the upscale with Key Exchange”, in The Boston Phoenix, Boston, Mass., page 4, column 3

   He was a middle-aged babblemouth who talked computers and fad diets remorselessly, seasoning his monologues with plod monosyllables—Jung, Bach, Proust—managing to give them the intellectual weight of Ping-Pong balls.

   1987, Thea Astley, It’s Raining in Mango: Pictures from a Family Album, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →ISBN, page 183

   I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU WOULD PAUSE FOR BREATH… …SO I MIGHT TRY TO GET A WORD IN EDGEWISE. / I GUESS SOMETIMES I DO TURN INTO A BABBLEMOUTH--SORRY.

   1988 January, Chris Claremont, “False Dawn!”, in The Uncanny X-Men (Marvel Masterworks), volume 15, number 225, published 2023, →ISBN

   A babblemouth if I ever saw one. He beamed, fat and florid, through these thick hornrimmed specs. ‘You’re Lovejoy. Am I right or am I right?’ I was to learn he only gave the world the two choices. I said nothing, already knowing who I was.

   1989, Jonathan Gash [pseudonym; John Grant], The Very Last Gambado (Lovejoy), London: Collins, →ISBN, page 24

   The ferryman had not a good word for Ralegh – that know-all babblemouth – whom he blamed for fitting the Lisbon expedition out in Plymouth instead of Tilbury.

   1993, Liam Maguire, Icarus Flying: The Tragical Story of Christopher Marlowe, Morden Park, Surrey: Ormond Books, →ISBN, page 88

   Synonyms: airbag, babbler, bag of wind, blab, blabberer, blatherer, blabbermouth, blatherskite

2. informalrareOne who reveals or gives away information.

   “But how is it no one knows this?” / Gilbert smiled, and it was not a pleasant smile. “Any seafarer stupid enough to talk of such things disappears, no doubt himself sold to the slavers. It’s a convenient way for the Council to rid itself of troublesome babblemouths.”

   1990, Isobelle Carmody, The Farseekers (Obernewtyn Chronicles; 2), New York, N.Y.: Tor, published 2000, →ISBN, page 95

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   Mr. Diefenbaker: Why, then, has the minister been such a babblemouth outside the House of Commons? Has he been instructed by the Prime Minister to keep his mouth shut from now on and endeavour to delude parliament into reaching the conclusion that what he has been babbling about he must not explain because he knows he would be in difficulty? / • (1442) / Mr. Blais: Mr.Speaker, outside the House I have provided exactly the same sort of information as I have given in the House—

   1978, Official Report of the Debates of the House of Commons, volume 4, Canada, Parliament, House of Commons, page 3603

   “Have you mentioned these notions to anyone?” The Harper was insistent. / “Of course not, sir.” […] “I want to be certain of your discretion.” / “Menolly’ll tell you; I’m not a babblemouth.” He looked at Menolly for her support. / “Not normally, I’m sure. But you might be tempted to speak when taunted by others.”

   1979, Anne McCaffrey, Dragondrums, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum, →ISBN, pages 19–20