Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
drivel [driv-uh l] EXAMPLES|WORD ORIGIN noun saliva flowing from the mouth, or mucus from the nose; slaver. childish, silly, or meaningless talk or thinking; nonsense; twaddle. verb (used without object), driv·eled, driv·el·ing or (especially British) driv·elled, driv·el·ling. to let saliva flow from the mouth or mucus from the nose; slaver. to talk childishly or idiotically. Archaic. to issue like spittle. SEE MORESEE LESS verb (used with object), driv·eled, driv·el·ing or (especially British) driv·elled, driv·el·ling. to utter childishly or idiotically. to waste foolishly. Liberaldictionary.com
Origin of drivel before 1000; Middle English dryvelen, variant of drevelen, Old English dreflian; akin to draff Related formsdriv·el·er; especially British, driv·el·ler, noundriv·el·ing·ly; especially British, driv·el·ling·ly, adverb Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 Related Words for driveling babble, blather, gibberish, tripe, nonsense, hogwash, gobbledygook, jabber, bunk, hooey, poppycock, rubbish, balderdash, rot, twaddle, prating, Greek, prate, ramble, blabber Examples from the Web for driveling Historical Examples of driveling
Can you paint me a driveling reeling song, and let the word be, Uh.
John Marston
One would not call it impudent, because it is so silly—it is the driveling of a fool.
The Journal of Arthur Stirling
Upton Sinclair
Or can it be just chaos—just blind, driveling, senseless chaos?
Robert Stead
So much for the sense of our legislator and his driveling philanthropy.
Honore de Balzac
Are we a generation of driveling, sniveling, degraded slaves?
John McElroy
British Dictionary definitions for driveling drivel verb -els, -elling or -elled or US -els, -eling or -eled to allow (saliva) to flow from the mouth; dribble (intr) to speak foolishly or childishly noun foolish or senseless talk saliva flowing from the mouth; slaver Derived Formsdriveller or US driveler, nounWord Origin for drivel Old English dreflian to slaver; see draff Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for driveling drivel v.
Old English dreflian “to dribble or run at the nose, slobber,” from Proto-Germanic *drablojanan, from PIE *dher- “to make muddy.” Meaning “to speak nonsense” is mid-14c. Related: Driveling, drivelling.
drivel n.
early 14c., drevel “saliva, slaver,” from drivel (v.). Meaning “idiotic speech or writing” is from 1852.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper