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babble

Flag: gbEnglishOxford New American Dictionary
babble /ˈbabəl, ˈbæbəl /
▸ verb [no object]
1 talk rapidly and continuously in a foolish, excited, or incomprehensible way:
they babbled on about their vacation.
▪ [reporting verb] utter something rapidly and incoherently:
[with direct speech] I gasped and stared and babbled, “Look at this!”.
▪ reveal something secret or confidential by talking carelessly:
he babbled to another convict while he was in jail.
2 (of a flowing water) make a continuous murmuring sound:
the shallow river babbled over smooth rocks.
▸ noun [imass noun]
1 the sound of people talking simultaneously:
the answers were difficult to hear amid the babble of conversation
[in singular] a confused babble of voices.
▪ foolish, excited, or confused talk:
her soft voice stopped his babble.
2 the continuous murmuring sound of flowing water:
the babble of a brook.
– DERIVATIVES
babblement
– ORIGIN Middle English : from Middle Low German babbelen, or an independent English formation, as a frequentative based on the repeated syllable ba, typical of a child's early speech.