burble

plural burbles

1. A bubbling, gurgling sound, as of a creek.

   Marta's gander was a magnificent snow-white bird: the object of terror to foxes, children and dogs. She had reared him as a gosling; and whenever he approached, he would let fly a low contented burble and sidle his neck around her thighs.

   1988, Bruce Chatwin, Utz, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN; republished London: Vintage Books, 2005, →ISBN, page 50

2. A gush of rapid speech.

   He could hear the music in the distance, and the burble and laughter from the library, and a high ringing in his own ears.

   2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 3, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN

3. The turbulent boundary layer about a moving streamlined body.

present singular third person burbles · participle present burbling · participle past burbled · past burbled

1. intransitiveTo bubble; to gurgle.

   The stream burbled as it flowed past. Its slightly musty odor smelled of trout.

   1997 June, Field & Stream, volume 102, number 2, page 138

2. To babble; to speak in an excited rush.

   She burbled on, as if I cared to listen.

   2 more examples

   "No, Jo, it wasn't one bit crowded, there was room enought ^([sic]) for everyone," she burbled on. "And we were there, and all these other wymeen too, of all shapes, sizes, and colors..."

   1980 August 16, Andrea Loewenstein, “Random Lust”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 5, page 19

   “No way this one’s going to miss us this time,” burbles one bebooted doomsdayer to another.

   1995 December 21, Tony Chamberlain, “We all love snow games: Some take time to play; others seize chance to panic”, in The Boston Globe, volume 248, number 174, Boston, Mass., page 91

1. Trouble; disorder.

present singular third person burbles · participle present burbling · participle past burbled · past burbled

1. transitiveTo trouble or confuse.