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Definition of gab in English:

gab

Pronunciation /ɡab/ /ɡæb/

See synonyms for gab

Translate gab into Spanish

intransitive verbgabs, gabbing, gabbed

[no object]informal

  • Talk at length, typically about trivial matters.

    • ‘Franny walked past a woman gabbing on the phone’
    • ‘it seems they were too busy gabbing about their weekend to actually help a customer’
    • ‘If your son has to swerve to avoid a little kid or a guy gabbing on the phone and driving an SUV, he might not be able to do it, especially at low speed, where steering effort is increased.’
    • ‘They go their separate ways whenever possible: He's planted in front of the television; she's gabbing on the phone to friends.’
    • ‘Aren't you guys into other stuff, like gabbing on the phone, Rollerblading or going to the movies?’
    • ‘You gab on the phone and IM each other for hours… even after you've just seen each other a dozen times during the school day.’
    • ‘With the teacher gone, students surfed on websites they shouldn't have been, the boys were having a spitball competition, and the girls were gabbing on their cell phones like there was no tomorrow.’
    • ‘Those who remain spend only 80% as much time gabbing on the phone, and all the while rates continue to drop.’
    • ‘So did something else set you off at Greensboro, or was it just the guy gabbing on the cell phone?’
    • ‘Jeff was leaning against the couch near my feet playing a video game that seemed to be frustrating him as David gabbed on his phone.’
    • ‘Discussing private matters in public has become a habit in Europe and the U.S. For years, Americans have complained about cell phone users who gab in public.’
    • ‘Mary, are you going to stand here and gab all day about ghosts and spooks or are you going to get something to eat?’
    • ‘I do not have the time to be gabbing on the phone for that long, even in the space of a month!’
    • ‘But this wasn't a goof-off employee, slacking away the day gabbing to friends and family on the phone.’
    • ‘Instead I get the feeling that I am calling one of those old-fashioned businesses where the phone rings for ten minutes straight while the guy at the counter gabs with the mailman.’
    • ‘Well, after we gabbed awhile and sipped out tea, rocking in a couple of my old antique buys, he gets up to go.’
    • ‘What people remember about a day is not what they gabbed about but who they gabbed to.’
    • ‘So we just stayed up and gabbed, ate junk food and had a few beers, and gabbed some more.’
    • ‘Scientists tracked 420,000 Danish cell phone users, including 52,000 who had gabbed on the gadgets for 10 years or more, and some who started using them 21 years ago.’
    • ‘We spun and gabbed, and gabbed, and gabbed, and Emily alternately ran wild around the house pulling out every toy she owned, and served everyone handfuls of cookies on toy plates.’
    • ‘Almost every near miss lately in which someone almost hit me resulted from their inattention as they gabbed, gabbed, gabbed on the phone.’
    chatter, chitter-chatter, chat, talk, gossip, gabble, babble, prattle, jabber, blather, blab
    View synonyms

noun

informal

  • Talk; chatter.

    • ‘fans should prefer her smooth delivery to the gab prevalent around the league’
    • ‘As the clock-hands sweep into the witching hour, on October 30, a new season of gab and glitter will open at the Varscona Theatre.’
    • ‘Montgomery's been in some superb bands and put out some solid solo records in the US, and I once had a nice long backyard gab with him about music over a keg.’
    • ‘The talk and news shows are equally diverse, with channels devoted to both liberal and conservative gab, the audio from cable TV news networks and a National Public Radio feed.’
    • ‘I discussed ‘Symbolism’ with Winthrop as we lunched on stale potato chips and water, but Winthrop was in no mood for hyperbolic gab.’
    • ‘But this is no girl gab where women bond over babies and birthing.’
    • ‘Deanna, a hard-working and good-natured woman, was gladly up to share a smoke and some gab when not working the dive deck.’
    • ‘As we listen to his wonderful gab, we should remember what he sometimes forgot or failed to say.’
    • ‘Stop at your best girl pal's place and get going with the gab.’
    • ‘Identify your conversational style, and then find out how to get the gab going with your crush!’
    • ‘By hanging out with the guys around the grill and listening in on the gab, the team eventually gathered a key insight that other forms of research had failed to deliver: A gas grill isn't really a tool that cooks the hamburgers and the hot dogs.’
    • ‘That's all the gab for now, but we'll keep our ears to the ground, and pay off maids to steal secret illicit sex tapes of the stars.’
    • ‘At the same time, people here don't know very much on the real situation in the world right now, and all the gab they get from the TV channels, which often involve the interpretations from Western mass media.’
    chatter, chat, talk, gossip, blather, blether, gibberish, drivel
    View synonyms

Phrases

    gift of gab
    informal

    • The ability to speak with eloquence and fluency.

      • ‘I was lucky enough to have the gift of gab, so I could make a living’

Origin

Late Middle English probably from an obsolete word with the same spelling meaning ‘mock, scoff, tell lies’.