"gift of the gab" meaning in English

See gift of the gab in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-gift of the gab.ogg [Australia] Forms: gifts of the gab [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|-|gifts of the gab}} gift of the gab (usually uncountable, plural gifts of the gab)
  1. (idiomatic) The ability to talk readily, glibly, and convincingly, especially on trivial matters and small talk. Tags: idiomatic, uncountable, usually Synonyms: gift of gab Related terms: silver tongue Translations (ability to talk readily): дар слово (dar slovo) (Bulgarian), 口齒伶俐 (Chinese Mandarin), 口齿伶俐 (kŏuchĭ línglì) (Chinese Mandarin), geslepen tong (Dutch), hyvät puhelahjat (Finnish), tchatche [feminine] (French), bagout [masculine] (French), Wortgewalt [feminine] (German), Eloquenz [feminine] (German), Redegabe [feminine] (German), flottes Mundwerk [informal, neuter] (German), il dono della parlantina [masculine] (Italian), don de palabra (Spanish), pico de oro (Spanish), labia (Spanish), munläder [neuter] (Swedish), vara slängd i käften (english: have the gift of gab) (Swedish), talets gåva (Swedish), אַ צונג אויף רעדער (a tsung oyf reder) [feminine] (Yiddish), אַ צונג און ביינער (a tsung un beyner) [feminine] (Yiddish), געשליפֿענע צונג (geshlifene tsung) [feminine] (Yiddish)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for gift of the gab meaning in English (5.4kB)

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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gifts of the gab",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
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      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "gifts of the gab"
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      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Bulgarian terms with redundant script codes",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with redundant script codes",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "parents": [
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Yiddish terms with redundant script codes",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with redundant script codes",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1839, Charles Dickens, chapter 43, in Oliver Twist",
          "text": "\"Ay, that he shall,\" replied Fagin, \"and we'll have a big-wig, Charley: one that's got the greatest gift of the gab: to carry on his defence; and he shall make a speech for himself too, if he likes.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1915, John Buchan, chapter 4, in The Thirty-Nine Steps",
          "text": "I had meant to speak for ten minutes and must now go on for forty, and, though I've been racking my brains for three hours to think of something, I simply cannot last the course. Now you've got to be a good chap and help me. You're a Free Trader and can tell our people what a wash-out Protection is in the Colonies. All you fellows have the gift of the gab.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 September 8, Michael White, “Roll up, roll up! The Amazing Salmond will show a Scotland you won't believe”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "He is a political chameleon, as charming to business leaders he met privately in Aberdeen on Friday night as he has been inspiring to distressed and desperate Labour defectors in Glasgow and beyond. The ex-oil economist can do it all because he has the gift of the gab and used to be a leftwing tearaway, expelled from the SNP ranks in stuffier times.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The ability to talk readily, glibly, and convincingly, especially on trivial matters and small talk."
      ],
      "id": "en-gift_of_the_gab-en-noun-8LvXjqxi",
      "links": [
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        [
          "readily",
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        [
          "glibly",
          "glibly"
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        [
          "convincingly",
          "convincingly"
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        [
          "trivial",
          "trivial"
        ],
        [
          "small talk",
          "small talk"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) The ability to talk readily, glibly, and convincingly, especially on trivial matters and small talk."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "silver tongue"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "gift of gab"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "dar slovo",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "word": "дар слово"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "word": "口齒伶俐"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "kŏuchĭ línglì",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "word": "口齿伶俐"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "word": "geslepen tong"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "word": "hyvät puhelahjat"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "tchatche"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "bagout"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Wortgewalt"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Eloquenz"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Redegabe"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "tags": [
            "informal",
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "flottes Mundwerk"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "il dono della parlantina"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "word": "don de palabra"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "word": "pico de oro"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "word": "labia"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "munläder"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "english": "have the gift of gab",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "word": "vara slängd i käften"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "word": "talets gåva"
        },
        {
          "code": "yi",
          "lang": "Yiddish",
          "roman": "a tsung oyf reder",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "אַ צונג אויף רעדער"
        },
        {
          "code": "yi",
          "lang": "Yiddish",
          "roman": "a tsung un beyner",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "אַ צונג און ביינער"
        },
        {
          "code": "yi",
          "lang": "Yiddish",
          "roman": "geshlifene tsung",
          "sense": "ability to talk readily",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "געשליפֿענע צונג"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "en-au-gift of the gab.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d7/En-au-gift_of_the_gab.ogg/En-au-gift_of_the_gab.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/En-au-gift_of_the_gab.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "gift of the gab"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gifts of the gab",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "gifts of the gab"
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      "expansion": "gift of the gab (usually uncountable, plural gifts of the gab)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "silver tongue"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Bulgarian terms with redundant script codes",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Yiddish terms with redundant script codes"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1839, Charles Dickens, chapter 43, in Oliver Twist",
          "text": "\"Ay, that he shall,\" replied Fagin, \"and we'll have a big-wig, Charley: one that's got the greatest gift of the gab: to carry on his defence; and he shall make a speech for himself too, if he likes.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1915, John Buchan, chapter 4, in The Thirty-Nine Steps",
          "text": "I had meant to speak for ten minutes and must now go on for forty, and, though I've been racking my brains for three hours to think of something, I simply cannot last the course. Now you've got to be a good chap and help me. You're a Free Trader and can tell our people what a wash-out Protection is in the Colonies. All you fellows have the gift of the gab.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 September 8, Michael White, “Roll up, roll up! The Amazing Salmond will show a Scotland you won't believe”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "He is a political chameleon, as charming to business leaders he met privately in Aberdeen on Friday night as he has been inspiring to distressed and desperate Labour defectors in Glasgow and beyond. The ex-oil economist can do it all because he has the gift of the gab and used to be a leftwing tearaway, expelled from the SNP ranks in stuffier times.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The ability to talk readily, glibly, and convincingly, especially on trivial matters and small talk."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "ability",
          "ability"
        ],
        [
          "talk",
          "talk"
        ],
        [
          "readily",
          "readily"
        ],
        [
          "glibly",
          "glibly"
        ],
        [
          "convincingly",
          "convincingly"
        ],
        [
          "trivial",
          "trivial"
        ],
        [
          "small talk",
          "small talk"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) The ability to talk readily, glibly, and convincingly, especially on trivial matters and small talk."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "en-au-gift of the gab.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d7/En-au-gift_of_the_gab.ogg/En-au-gift_of_the_gab.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/En-au-gift_of_the_gab.ogg",
      "tags": [
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      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "gift of gab"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "dar slovo",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "word": "дар слово"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "word": "口齒伶俐"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "kŏuchĭ línglì",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "word": "口齿伶俐"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "word": "geslepen tong"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "word": "hyvät puhelahjat"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "tchatche"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "bagout"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Wortgewalt"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Eloquenz"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Redegabe"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "flottes Mundwerk"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "il dono della parlantina"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "word": "don de palabra"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "word": "pico de oro"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "word": "labia"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "munläder"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "english": "have the gift of gab",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "word": "vara slängd i käften"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "word": "talets gåva"
    },
    {
      "code": "yi",
      "lang": "Yiddish",
      "roman": "a tsung oyf reder",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "אַ צונג אויף רעדער"
    },
    {
      "code": "yi",
      "lang": "Yiddish",
      "roman": "a tsung un beyner",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "אַ צונג און ביינער"
    },
    {
      "code": "yi",
      "lang": "Yiddish",
      "roman": "geshlifene tsung",
      "sense": "ability to talk readily",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "געשליפֿענע צונג"
    }
  ],
  "word": "gift of the gab"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (1d5a7d1 and 304864d). 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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