or gebberish, gibberidge, gibrige, etc., subs. (old: now recognised).—Originally the lingo of gipsies, beggars, etc. Now, any kind of inarticulate nonsense. [From GIBBER, a variant of JABBER.] See CANT, SLANG, PEDLAR’S FRENCH, etc.
1594. NASHE, The Unfortunate Traveller, in wks., v., 68. That all cried out upon him mightily in their GIBRIGE, lyke a companie of beggers.
1598. FLORIO, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Gergare, to speak fustian, pedlers french, or rogues language, or GIBBRISH.
1611. COTGRAVE, Dictionarie. Jargon: m. GIBRIDGE, fustian language, Pedlers French; a barbarous jangling.
1638. H. SHIRLEY, The Martyr’d Souldier, Act iii., Sc. 4.
| Feele my pulse once again and tell me, Doctor, | |
| Tell me in tearmes that I may understand,— | |
| I doe not love your GIBBERISH,—tell me honestly | |
| Where the Cause lies, and give a Remedy. |
1659. TORRIANO, Vocabolario, s.v.
1748. T. DYCHE, A New General English Dictionary (5 ed.). GIBBERISH (s.) an unintelligible jargon, or confused way of speaking, used by the gipsies, beggars, etc., to disguise their wicked designs; also any discourse where words abound more than sense.
1748. SMOLLETT, Roderick Random, ch. xxx. He repeated some GIBBERISH which by the sound seemed to be Irish.
1817. SCOTT, Rob Roy, ch. viii. Since that d——d clerk of mine has taken his GIBBERISH elsewhere.
1850. D. JERROLD, The Catspaw, Act i. Odds and ends … writ ’em down in such a kind of GIBBERISH that, for the life of me, I can’t make out one of ’em.
1858. G. ELIOT, Mr. Gilfil’s Love-Story, ch. iv. It’ll learn to speak summat better nor GIBBERISH, an’ be brought up i’ the true religion.
1892. R. L. STEVENSON and L. OSBOURNE, The Wrecker, p. 129. It was Fo’c’s’le Jack that piped and drawled his ungrammatical GIBBERISH.
