babel

plural babels

1. alternativeuncountableusuallyAlternative form of Babel.
2. uncountableusuallyA confused noise made by a number of voices.

   I closed the door hurriedly on the babel and groped my way back to bed. At that moment bed seemed to be the one safe, comforting thing in my whole baffling environment.

   1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 11

   2 more examples

   He had already demanded the attention of the manager, Professor Bulge, Draycott and two underlings to his case and they were now involved in a babel of inutile reiteration.

   1914, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados

   […] up in front the third and fourth class passengers were making a babel of noise as they either detrained or entrained together with their large families and strange collection of parcels, bundles and earthenware jars.

   1958 February 28, Arthur F. Beckenham, “A Journey in the Belgian Congo”, in Railway Magazine, page 93

1. biblicalThe city and tower in the land of Shinar where the confusion of languages took place, according to the Bible.

   Therefore is the name of it called Babel[…]

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 11:9, column 2

plural Babels · alternative babel

1. A confused mixture of sounds and voices, especially in different languages.First known use 16th c.

   A babel of languages could be heard in the streets and the squares, mingling with the local Provençal.

   2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge, published 2008, page 48

   1 more example

   As the three were making their way through the crowds of marketers, camels, donkeys, and horses that filled the market place with a confusing babel of sounds, Abdul plucked at Tarzan’s sleeve.

   1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg, published March 1915, →OCLC

2. A place or scene of noise and confusion.First known use 16th c.
3. A tall, looming structure.First known use 16th c.