[Perh. in origin akin to clap-dish.] Contemptuous or playful name for a habitual chatterer.
1798. Aurora General Advertiser, 11 June, 2/2. A Chatterbox, who having been persuaded that he has talents, belches forth on all occasions a declamatory jargon.
1814–8. in Todd.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop (C. D. ed.), 93. A set of idle chatterboxes.
1876. T. Hardy, Hand of Ethelb., I. 41. One of those hostile days … when chatterbox ladies remain miserably in their homes.
1878. E. Jenkins, Haverholme, 52. A mere political chatterbox.
