Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Gab |
GabNoun1. Light informal conversation for social occasions. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "gab" was first used: sometime around 1150. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Gab (g hard). The gift of the gab. Fluency of speech; or, rather, the gift of boasting. (French, gaber, to gasconade; Danish and Scotch, gab, the mouth; Gaelic gob; Irish, cab; whence our gap and gape, gabble and gobble. The gable of a house is its beak.) "There was a good man named Job Who lived in the laud of Uz He had a good gift of the gob, The same thing happened us." Book of Job, by Zach. Boyd. "Thou art one of the knights of France, who hold it for glee and pastime to gab, as they term it, of exploits that are beyond human power." - Sir W. Scott: The Talisman, chap.ii. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Slang in 1811 | GAB, or GOB. The mouth. Gift of the gab; a facility of speech, nimble tongued eloquence. To blow the gab; to confess, or peach. GAB, or GOB, STRING. A bridle. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
GAB | Dutch | Algemene Leningsregeling | Finance |
GAB | English | General Arrangement to Borrow | Finance |
GAB | French | Distributeur automatique de billets de banque | N/A |
GAB | German | Gabunische Republik | Geography, Law |
GAB | Italian | Accordo Generale di Prestito | Finance |
GAB | Spanish | Acuerdo General de Empréstito | Finance |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: GabSynonyms: causerie (n), chin-wag (n), chin-wagging (n), chitchat (n), gabfest (n), gossip (n), small talk (n), tittle-tattle (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Loquacity | Fluency, flippancy, volubility, flowing, tongue; flow of words;flux de bouche, flux de mots; copia verborum, cacoethes loquendi; furor loquendi; verbosity; (diffuseness); gift of the gab; (eloquence). |
Speech | Oratory; elocution, eloquence; rhetoric, declamation; grandiloquence, multiloquence; burst of eloquence; facundity; flow of words, command of words, command of language; copia verborum; power of speech, gift of the gab; usus loquendi. |
Be eloquent; adj; have a tongue in one's head, have the gift of the gab; n. | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Gab |
| English words defined with "gab": V hook. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "gab": General Arrangement to Borrow, GIFT OF THE GAB, GOB ♦ TO BLOW THE GAB, To PEACH. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "gab": Gap. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Gab" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. German (gave), Scottish (a tattling mouth, nm. tattling mouth). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I detect, like me, you're endowed with the gift of gab. (O Brother, Where Art Thou?; writing credit: Ethan Coen) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Gift of Gab (1934) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | ![]() | Von dem mislungenen kommunistenputsch in Wien: blutiger zusammenstos der Kommunisten mit der polizei am Schottentor-Votivpark-Währingerstrase, wobei es 17 tote und 100 verwundete gab. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
| Blubbering; burble; chatter; clamor; drivel; gab; gabble; gibberish; jabber; jabbering; muttering; murmur; prattle; ranting; burbling; gabbing; horse; stallion. | Converse; background noise; gathering; party; cocktail; chat; chitchat; commune; confer; discourse; exchange; gab; parley; rap; schmoose; speak; yack; talk. | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| "Gab" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 58.33% of the time. "Gab" is used about 24 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 58.33% | 14 | 93,893 |
| Noun (proper) | 25% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 8.33% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 4.17% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (common) | 4.17% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 24 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "gab" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Gab | Last name | 100 | 84,871 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "gab": blow the gab ♦ Eccentric gab ♦ Gift of gab ♦ gift of the gab ♦ have gift of the gab ♦ have the gift of the gab ♦ hook or gab ♦ line of gab. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
gab | 127 | baby gab | 3 |
mad gab | 34 | gab mt | 3 |
gab robin | 29 | america gab inc north robin | 3 |
gab robbins | 16 | gab insurance | 3 |
1 gab jean mc | 12 | gab watch | 3 |
gift of gab | 11 | business gab services | 3 |
gab rom | 9 | gab mad words | 3 |
gab wheels | 8 | gab store | 3 |
gab pecos | 8 | gab porn | 3 |
c def gab | 6 | mad gab game | 2 |
america gab north robin | 6 | bruksnummer gab gã¥rds og | 2 |
gab sports | 5 | gab union | 2 |
gab suspension | 4 | gab mad online | 2 |
gab peter | 4 | gab rim | 2 |
gab shock | 4 | gab pink | 2 |
dolce gab | 4 | gab hebdo | 2 |
gab trailer | 2 | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "gab"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | gojos (backbite, gossip, slander, speak ill of smb.), muhabet kot (guff, idle talk), llomotis (blab, cackle, clack, jabber, prate, splutter, waffle), llogje (jaw), llafe (blah, claptrap, comment, hassle, jaw, scuttlebutt, taradiddle, tattle, tittle tattle, waffle), dërdëllit (babble, chatter, clack, gibber, harp on, jabber, prattle, yap), dërdëllis (babble, chatter, clack, gibber, harp on, harp on the same string, jabber, prattle, yap). (various references) | |
Arabic | ثرثرة (babble, blab, blabber, boastfulness, breeze, cackle, chat, chatter, clatter, gabble, garrulity, gas, gibberish, jabber, jactitation, logorrhea, loquacity, patter, prate, prattle, rattle, talkativeness, tattler, tittle tattle, twaddle, yap). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | кука (clevis, crook, grapple, holdfast, hook), вилка (bracket, fork), бърборя (babble, cank, jabber, natter, prate, prattle, rattle, tattle), бърборене (chatter, prate, prattle, rattle, tattle), бъбривост (garrulity, loquacity, mouth, volubility), дърдоря (cackle, dodder, gabble, jabber, jaw, palaver, patter, prate, tattle), дърдорене (babble, burble, cackle, gabble, jaw, patter, sputter, yap), дрънкане (blab, chink, clink, jangle, plunk, rattle, tattle, thrum, tinkle), дрънкам (blab, cank, chin, chink, cosher, jangle, jingle, plunk, prate, rattle, tinkle, twaddle). (various references) | |
Chinese | 凹节. (various references) | |
Czech | tlachání (cackle, gas, palaver, talk, twaddle, waffle), žvanìní (cackle, chatter, chitchat, claptrap, double talk, flapdoodle, flubdub, gas, piffle, prate, prattle, rigmarole, tattle, twaddle, waffle, wind). (various references) | |
Farsi | پرگفتن , گپ زدن (Chat), دروغ گفتن (Belie, Equivocate, Prevaricate, Weasel, Whiff). (various references) | |
French | manques. (various references) | |
German | quatschen (blather, chatter, gabble, jaw, natter, piffle, squeal, yap). (various references) | |
Greek | πολυλογία (chatter, garrulousness, loquacity, prattle, talkativeness, twaddle, verbalism, verbalization, verbiage, verboseness, verbosity), φλυαρώ (babble, blabber, chatter, gabble, gibber, gossip, jabber, palaver, prate, rattle away, tattle, tittle tattle, twaddle, waffle, yammer, yap, yatter), φλυαρία (babble, babblement, cackle, chatter, chin wagging, chit chat, claptrap, gabble, garrulity, garrulousness, loquacity, palaver, prate, prattle, prittle prattle, rattle, tittle tattle, yapp). (various references) | |
Hungarian | fecsegés (babble, blab, blat, blatter, cackle, chaffering, chat, chatter, clack, clash, driveling, drivelling, gabble, gossiping, jabber, jangle, lip, loquacity, palaver, piffle, prattle, small talk, talk, tattle, tittle-tattle, twaddle), fecseg (blab, blah blah, chat, chatter, dote, jabber, jangle, Maunder, natter, piffle, prate, talk, to babble, to blab, to blab out, to blat, to blatter, to cackle, to clack, to clatter, to gabble, to jabber, to jangle, to palaver, to patter, to piffle, to prattle, to quack, to rabbit, to ramble, to rant, to talk frivolities, to twaddle, to vapour, to witter, to yak, to yak it up). (various references) | |
Indonesian | secolek (a pinch, bit, pat), buaian (boast, hammock, swing), bercakap-cakap (babble, gabble), banyak cakap. (various references) | |
Italian | parlantina (talkativeness), chiachiarare, chiacchiera (babble, gossip, natter, tattle, waffle). (various references) | |
Manx | cabberaght (garrulity, jaw, prattle, wagging tongue). (various references) | |
Norwegian | skravle (chat, chatter, gossip, jaw). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | abgay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | tagarelice (blab, blather, blether, chat, chatter, chirp chirrup, chitchat, gabble, gossiping, jaw, patter, prate, tittle-tattle), tagarelar (blather, blether, cackle, chat, chatter, chipper, clack, clat, clatter, dodder, gabble, gas, gossip, jabber, jaw, keckle, patter, prate, talk, tattle, tittle-tattle), palratório, palrar (cackle, chat, chirp, gabble, gaggle, jabber, jaw, prate, talk, tattle, tittle-tattle), mexericar (gossip, intrigue, scandalize, snoop, tattle, tittle-tattle), loquacidade (gabble, jabber), falar pelos cotovelos (waffle), entalhe (cannelure, chase, croze, cutting, dent, fillister, furrow, groove, hack, indentation, indention, jag, jagg, kerf, mortise, nick, rabbet, snick), conversa (causerie, chat, chitchat, consultation, conversation, converse, discourse, gabble, reasoning, slipslop, talk, trifling). (various references) | |
Romanian | gurã (aperture, armful, Buss, chops, entrance, gossip, influx, issue, jaw, kisser, lip, lips, mouth, mouthful, muzzle, orifice, pestering, plug, row, scolding, sip, speech, spout, squabble, vent), vorbire (discourse, language, oration, speaking, speech, talk), trãncãni (Bab, babble, cackle, clack, clash, clatter, cosher, gibber, gossip, jabber, jangle, Maunder, natter, palaver, prate, prattle, rattle, talk, tattle, yap), muzicuţã (harmonica, mouth organ), limbuţie (chattering, garrulousness, loquacity, verbosity), leoarbã (potato trap), clanţã (catch, latch). (various references) | |
Russian | крюк (crook, grapnel, grapple, grappling iron, hook, piton, rocking-turn), вынос, выемка (cannelure, coulisse, cutting, groove, gutter, indent, indentation, notch, notching, recess, roach, ward), вылет (flight, radius), отверстие (aperture, breach, break, ear, gap, hiatus, hole, opening, orifice, slot, vent, ventiduct), зарубка (dap, hack, kerf, notch, notching, snick), болтовня (badinage, banter, blether, cackle, chat, chatter, chitchat, clatter, confabulation, footle, gammon, gas, gassing, gossip, gup, hubble bubble, jive, mag, patter, piffle, rattle, spiels, tattle, tittle tattle, twaddle, waffle, wish-wash), болтать болтовня (twaddle, yakking), болтать (blab, cank, chat, chatter, chin, confabulate, cosher, haver, jabber, natter, prate, prattle, rattle, shoot the breeze, tattle, twitter, witter), болтливость (garrulity, jaw, loquacity). (various references) | |
Scottish | cab (a gap, indentation, mouth). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | brbljanje (babblement, blabber, blather, gibber, jive, prattle, twaddle), blebetati (palter, waffle). (various references) | |
Spanish | gancho (claw, clinch, crotcheteer, hook, jab, peg, pothook, tout), parlotear (babble, cackle, chatter, gabble, gas, natter, prate, prattle, tattle, waffle, yap), palique (small talk), horquilla (fork, hairpin, oarlock, pin, rest, yoke), hablar (chat, communicate, speak, speaking, talk, tap, to speak, visit), cotorrear (gabble, gabble away, quack), charlar (chat, chatter, chin, gas, gossip, jaw, natter, prate, prattle, shoot the bull, talk, visit, yap), charla (babble, causerie, chat, chatter, chitchat, clack, derision, gabble, gossip, natter, prate, rattle, small talk, talk, tattle, tittletattle, yap), cháchara (babble, babbling, chatter, chitchat, jaw, prattle, talk, yak). (various references) | |
Swedish | prat (buzz, cackle, chatter, gas, palaver, talk, talking, wind). (various references) | |
Thai | พู"เรื่องไร้สาระ, การพู"เรื่องไร้สาระ. (various references) | |
Turkish | gevezelik (babbling, cackle, chattering, chinwag, chitchat, clack, comment, gabble, garrulity, gossip, indiscretion, jaw, jive, loquaciousness, loquacity, mouthiness, prate, prattle, rattle, talkativeness, talky-talk, tattle, volubility, windiness, yap), zırvalamak (blah blah, flap, rot, talk nonsense, twaddle), saçmalamak (blah blah, blather, blether, drivel, drool, flap, gas, piffle, rave, rot, talk nonsense, talk through one's hat, talk wild, twaddle, waffle, yap), saçmalık (absurdity, applesauce, balderdash, bilge, blather, blatherskite, blether, bosh, drivel, extravagance, eyewash, farce, fatuity, fiddle-faddle, flapdoodle, flimflam, flubdub, footle, galimatias, gassing, gibberish, guff, hog-wash, hokum, hooey, inanity, ineptitude, ineptness, insanity, irrationality, lark, malarkey, moonshine, nonsense, piffle, poppycock, punk, rot, rubbish, shenanigan, silliness, spinach, stuff, talkee-talkee, the irrational, trash, triviality, twaddle, vacuity, whimsicality, whimsicalness, wind, wishy-wash), konuşkanlık (expansiveness, loquaciousness, loquacity, talkativeness, volubility), boş lâf (applesauce, babble, balderdash, bosh, bunkum, comment, empty words, falderal, fiddle, fiddle-de-dee, flimflam, flubdub, flummery, froth, fudge, galimatias, garbage, gas, guff, haver, hokum, hooey, hot air, inanity, jazz, lark, moonshine, palaver, poppycock, punk, routine, small talk, talky-talk, tripe, vaporings, vapourings, waffle, wind, wishy-wash), boş konuşmak (gammon, haver, jaw, prate, talk the hind legs off a donkey, trifle), çok konuşmak (rattle), çene yapmak, çene (chap, chin, chinwag, chitchat, chop, eloquence, glass jaw, jaw, jawbone, jowl, mandible). (various references) | |
Turkmen | gygyrmak (chatter), jedirdemek (jabber). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | хвастати (beat to drums, blow, bluster, boast, brag, cut a dash, display, flourish, gasconade, glory, splurge, swank, talk big, talk horse, vapor, vapour, vaunt), говіркість, виліт (sortie), вилка, базікати (babble, blab, blather, burble, cackle, chatter, chin, clatter, expatiate, footle, gabble, gossip, haver, jabber, natter, parleyvoo, piffle, prate, spiel, tattle, tittle tattle, twitter, waffle, wag, wiggle-waggle, yak, yak-yak, yarn), балакучість (garrulity, loquacity, volubility). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | vết khía (snick), vết chích (prick), t i bẻm mép câm m"m đi! im đi!. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "gab": gabardine, gabardines, gabbard, gabbards, gabbart, gabbarts, gabbed, gabber, gabbers, gabbier, gabbiest, gabbing, gabble, gabbled, gabbler, gabblers, gabbles, gabbling, gabbro, gabbroic, gabbroid, gabbros, gabby, gabelle, gabelled, gabelles, gaberdine, gaberdines, gabfest, gabfests, gabies, gabion, gabions, gable, gabled, gables, gabling, gaboon, gaboons, gabs, gaby. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "gab": bafflegab. (additional references) | |
Words containing "gab": bafflegabs, bugaboo, bugaboos, delegable, fatigabilities, fatigability, fatigable, gigabit, gigabits, gigabyte, gigabytes, hangable, huggable, immitigable, immitigably, indefatigabilities, indefatigability, indefatigable, indefatigableness, indefatigablenesses, indefatigably, irrefragabilities, irrefragability, irrefragable, irrefragably, jigaboo, jigaboos, litigable, mangabey, mangabeys, mangabies, mangaby, megabar, megabars, megabit, megabits, megabuck, megabucks, megabyte, megabytes, navigabilities, navigability, navigable, navigably, propagable, singable, slugabed, slugabeds, vagabond, vagabondage, vagabondages. (additional references) | |
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"Gab" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: agj, agv, eab, egab, Egba, gaab, gaav, gabba, gabe, gabo, gac, gaf, gah, gai, gaj, gak, Galby, gamb, gaq, gav, gaw, gax, gaz, Gba, gdb, Geba, gebr, geeb, gelb, gev, gfa, ghb, gibb, giby, gimb, glab, Glaby, gma, gnab, gta, gub, gwa, Gxa, gyb, Iab, Igfbp, Kgabo, Ogba, vab, yab, zab. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "gab" (pronounced ga"b) |
| 2 | -a" b | Ab, cab, crab, dab, drab, flab, grab, jab, lab, Nab, prefab, scab, slab, stab, tab. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: bag. | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-g" | |
-1 letter: ab, ag, ba. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-g" | |
+1 letter: bags, bang, brag, gabs, gaby, gamb, garb, grab. | |
+2 letters: badge, bagel, baggy, bangs, barge, began, begat, belga, bhang, bogan, brags, gabby, gable, gamba, gambe, gambs, garbs, gleba, goban, grabs. | |
+3 letters: abying, airbag, ambage, baaing, badged, badger, badges, bagass, bagels, bagful, bagged, bagger, baggie, bagman, bagmen, bagnio, baguet, bagwig, baking, baling, bandog, banged, banger, bangle, baning, barege, barged, bargee, barges, baring, barong, basing, bating, baying, beagle, beflag, begall, begaze, beggar, beglad, belgas, beluga, bhangs, bigamy, biogas, bodega, bogans, borage, braggy, bregma, brogan, bugsha, cubage, dagoba, gabbed, gabber, gabble, gabbro, gabies, gabion, gabled, gables, gaboon, gambas, gambes, gambia, gambir, gambit, gamble, gambol, garbed, garble, gasbag, gazabo, gazebo, gimbal, glebae, global, gobang, gobans, grabby, graben, hagbut, ragbag, ratbag, sagbut, seabag. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Abbreviations 15. Acronyms 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.