Flibbertigibbet
Sponsored by Mark AlexanderCame first in group 102 in round 1 with 363 votesbeat Ooze on 192 votesbeat Drench on 79 votesbeat Particle on 37 votes
Came first in group 26 in round 2 with 519 votesbeat Turpitude on 157 votesbeat Mew on 110 votesbeat Hickory on 71 votes
Won in group 13 in round 3 with 579 votesbeat Dastardly on 377 votes
Won in group 7 in round 4 with 648 votesbeat Surreptitious on 330 votes
Won in group 4 in round 5 with 835 votesbeat Warble on 411 votes
Won in group 2 in round 6 with 664 votesbeat Rapscallion on 537 votes
Won in group 1 in round 7 with 1264 votesbeat Flounce on 1108 votes
Lost in group 1 in quarter-final with 731 votesbeaten by Shenanigans on 1503 votes
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From late Middle English [Term?] first attested 1549 probably imitative of nonsense uttered by gossips. Usage as an imp or fiend and name of the Devil from around 1603.
Alternatively (but far less likely), an alteration of flibbergib (“toady, sycophant”), derived potentially from an Old Norse *fleipra-geipa(re) (“babbler of nonsense”). The hypothetical Old Norse term would have been a compound of fleipra (a variant of fleipa (“to babble, tattle”)), and geipa (“to talk nonsense, to boast”) or geipare (“one who speaks nonsense, braggart”). fleipa is notably the ancestor to the flip- part of the English word flippant. It is of note that the original meaning of flibbergib was “chatterer”.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌflɪbətiˈdʒɪbɪt/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈflɪbɚtiˌd͡ʒɪbɪt/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun[edit]
flibbertigibbet (plural flibbertigibbets)
- An offbeat, skittish person; especially said of a young woman.
- A flighty person; someone regarded as silly, irresponsible, or scatterbrained, especially someone who chatters or gossips.
- 2009, Jennifer Worth, Farewell to the East End, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, page 171:
- ‘Ignorant girls. Dizzy young things. It seems to be my fate always to be landed with these flibbertigibbets.’
- (archaic) An imp, a fiend.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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Further reading[edit]
- “flibbertigibbet”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “flibbertigibbet”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- flibbertigibbet on Wikipedia.Wikipedia