gossip
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɡɒsɪp/
ipa: /ˈɡɑsəp/
Forms: form: gossips
form: gossiping
form: gossipping
form: gossiped
form: gossiped
form: gossipped
form: gossipped
Etymology: From Middle English godsybbe, godsib (“a close friend or relation, a confidant; a godparent”), from Old English godsibb (“godparent, sponsor”), equivalent to god + sib. Doublet of godsib. For sense evolution to "gossip, discussing others' personal affairs," compare French commérage.
Senses: examples: text: This Place then is no other than the Chandler’s Shop; the known Seat of all the News; or, as it is vulgarly called, Gossiping, in every Parish in England.
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 4, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume I, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book II, page 66:
text: Godfrey felt guilty at having gossiped to Olive about Lettie’s changes in her will.
ref: 1959, Muriel Spark, chapter 8, in Memento Mori, New York: Time-Life, 1964, page 109:
synonyms: blab
dish the dirt
spill the tea
talk out of turn
tell tales out of school
glosses: To talk about someone else's private or personal business, especially in a manner that spreads the information.
examples: text: […] on seats beneath the trees, the old men group of an evening to drink their ale and gossip over village politics;
ref: 1889, Jerome K. Jerome, chapter 14, in Three Men in a Boat […] :
text: "Tut! tut! The unchanging woman. They gossiped in my time and they gossip still."
ref: 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
synonyms: chat
chatter
chew the fat
chinwag
natter
prattle
shoot the breeze
glosses: To talk idly.
examples: text: […] a world
Of pretty, fond, adoptious christendoms [i.e. Christian names],
That blinking Cupid gossips.
ref: c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
text: The Pleasure I used to take in telling my Boy Stories of the Battles, and asking my Girl Questions about the Disposal of her Baby, and the Gossiping of it, is turned into inward Reflection and Melancholy.
ref: 1709, Richard Steele, “No. 95 in The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff”, in The Tatler, London, 1712, page 282:
glosses: To stand godfather to; to provide godparents for.
examples: text: […] those baby eyes
That never saw the giant world enraged;
Nor met with fortune other than at feasts,
Full of warm blood, of mirth, of gossiping.
ref: c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
glosses: To enjoy oneself during festivities, to make merry.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To communicate using a gossip protocol.
Synonyms: word: blab
word: cag
word: chelp
word: clepe
word: dish
word: dish the dirt
word: fetch and carry
word: gossip
word: jaunder
word: labrish
word: shoot the shit
word: talk
word: talk out of turn
word: tattle
word: tell tales out of school
word: tittle-tattle
Hypernyms: word: speak
Related terms: word: word has it
word: prattle
word: rat out
word: gossiper