"flibbertigibbet" meaning in English

See flibbertigibbet in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˌflɪbətiˈdʒɪbɪt/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈflɪbɚtiˌd͡ʒɪbɪt/ [US] Audio: en-us-flibbertigibbet.ogg [US] Forms: flibbertigibbets [plural]
Etymology: From late Middle English [Term?] first attested 1549 probably imitative of nonsense uttered by gossips. Usage as an imp or fiend and name of the Devil from around 1603. Alternatively (but far less likely), an alteration of flibbergib (“toady, sycophant”), derived potentially from an Old Norse *fleipra-geipa(re) (“babbler of nonsense”). The hypothetical Old Norse term would have been a compound of fleipra (a variant of fleipa (“to babble, tattle”)), and geipa (“to talk nonsense, to boast”) or geipare (“one who speaks nonsense, braggart”). fleipa is notably the ancestor to the flip- part of the English word flippant. It is of note that the original meaning of flibbergib was “chatterer”. Etymology templates: {{der|en|enm}} Middle English [Term?], {{m|en|flibbergib||toady, sycophant}} flibbergib (“toady, sycophant”), {{der|en|non||*fleipra-geipa(re)|babbler of nonsense}} Old Norse *fleipra-geipa(re) (“babbler of nonsense”), {{m|non|fleipra}} fleipra, {{m|non|fleipa||to babble, tattle}} fleipa (“to babble, tattle”), {{m|non|geipa||to talk nonsense, to boast}} geipa (“to talk nonsense, to boast”), {{m|non|geipare||one who speaks nonsense, braggart}} geipare (“one who speaks nonsense, braggart”), {{m|non||fleipa}} fleipa, {{m|en|flippant}} flippant, {{m|en|flibbergib}} flibbergib Head templates: {{en-noun}} flibbertigibbet (plural flibbertigibbets)
  1. An offbeat, skittish person; especially said of a young woman. Translations (offbeat, skittish person): fratsenmaker, wispelturig iemand (alt: 1) (Dutch), duiveltje, deugniet (alt: 2) (Dutch), roddelaar (alt: 3) (Dutch), écervelé [masculine] (French), écervelée [feminine] (French), tête de linotte [feminine] (French), Flattergeist [masculine] (German), trzpiotka [feminine] (Polish), gaduła [feminine] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-flibbertigibbet-en-noun-8NBN~D9h Disambiguation of 'offbeat, skittish person': 81 17 2
  2. A flighty person; someone regarded as silly, irresponsible, or scatterbrained, especially someone who chatters or gossips.
    Sense id: en-flibbertigibbet-en-noun-SGcBMu8E Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 12 54 34 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 9 59 32
  3. (archaic) An imp, a fiend. Tags: archaic Categories (topical): People
    Sense id: en-flibbertigibbet-en-noun-tx2rkkdx Disambiguation of People: 23 29 48
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: flibbertigibbety

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for flibbertigibbet meaning in English (5.4kB)

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          "_dis1": "81 17 2",
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          "_dis1": "81 17 2",
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          "sense": "offbeat, skittish person",
          "word": "duiveltje, deugniet"
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          "_dis1": "81 17 2",
          "alt": "3",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "offbeat, skittish person",
          "word": "roddelaar"
        },
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          "_dis1": "81 17 2",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "offbeat, skittish person",
          "tags": [
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          "word": "écervelé"
        },
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          "_dis1": "81 17 2",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "offbeat, skittish person",
          "tags": [
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          "_dis1": "81 17 2",
          "code": "fr",
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          "ref": "2009, Jennifer Worth, Farewell to the East End, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, page 171",
          "text": "‘Ignorant girls. Dizzy young things. It seems to be my fate always to be landed with these flibbertigibbets.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
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        "(archaic) An imp, a fiend."
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      "ipa": "/ˈflɪbɚtiˌd͡ʒɪbɪt/",
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      "audio": "en-us-flibbertigibbet.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/En-us-flibbertigibbet.ogg",
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    "English terms derived from Old Norse",
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    "English terms with audio links",
    "Middle English term requests",
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        "An offbeat, skittish person; especially said of a young woman."
      ],
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      "alt": "1",
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "offbeat, skittish person",
      "word": "fratsenmaker, wispelturig iemand"
    },
    {
      "alt": "2",
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "offbeat, skittish person",
      "word": "duiveltje, deugniet"
    },
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      "alt": "3",
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "offbeat, skittish person",
      "word": "roddelaar"
    },
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      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "offbeat, skittish person",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "écervelé"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "offbeat, skittish person",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "écervelée"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "offbeat, skittish person",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "tête de linotte"
    },
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      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "offbeat, skittish person",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Flattergeist"
    },
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      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "offbeat, skittish person",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "trzpiotka"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "offbeat, skittish person",
      "tags": [
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      "word": "gaduła"
    }
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  "word": "flibbertigibbet"
}

{
  "called_from": "translations/324",
  "msg": "possible sense number in translation item: Dutch: fratsenmaker, wispelturig iemand(1), duiveltje, deugniet(2), roddelaar (nl)(3)",
  "path": [
    "flibbertigibbet"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "noun",
  "title": "flibbertigibbet",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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