Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

drivel

/dɹɪv.əl/ noun, verb

Forms drivels driveling drivelling driveled drivelled

  1. noun Nonsense; senseless talk.
  2. noun (now somewhat rare) Saliva, drool.
  3. verb To talk nonsense; to talk senselessly; to drool.
  4. verb (archaic, intransitive) To have saliva drip from the mouth.
  5. verb To be weak or foolish; to dote.
  6. noun A servant; a drudge.
  7. noun A fool; an idiot.
  8. verb To move or travel slowly.
  9. verb To use up or to be used up.

Synonyms

absurdity all my eye all my eye and Betty Martin apple grease applesauce bafflegab balderdash balls baloney banana oil Bandini baragouin batcrap batshit bilgewater blah blah-blah blah-blah-blah blather blatherskite garbage drool dribble slobber slabber slaver

Etymology

From Middle English dravel, dribil, a deverbal from drevelen, drivelen (Etymology 2).

From Middle English drevelen, drivelen, from Old English dreflian (“to drivel, slobber, slaver”), from Proto-Germanic *drablijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerebʰ- (“cloudy, turbid; yeast”).

From Middle English drivel, probably from driven + -el, unless borrowed from an equivalent word in another West Germanic language. Compare Old Dutch drevel (“scullion”).

Perhaps a blend of drive + dribble.

Webster’s 1913

  1. verb To slaver; to let spittle drop or flow from the mouth, like a child, idiot, or dotard.
  2. verb To be weak or foolish; to dote; as, a driveling hero; driveling love. Shak. Dryden.
  3. noun Slaver; saliva flowing from the mouth.
  4. noun Inarticulate or unmeaning utterance; foolish talk; babble.

Etymology [Cf. OE. dravelen, drabelen, drevelen, drivelen, to slaver, and E. drabble. Cf. Drool.]

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “drivel”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details