fribble

English

Etymology

Perhaps related to frivol.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɹɪbəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

fribble (third-person singular simple present fribbles, present participle fribbling, simple past and past participle fribbled)

1. To waste or fritter.
2. To behave in a frivolous way.
   • 1984, Guy Davenport, Apples and Pears:

     We dried in the sun on a boulder as warm as a dying stove, and fribbled and monkeyed with each other, priming for later.

3. To totter.

Translations

behave in a frivolous way

• Bulgarian: безделнича (bg) (bezdelniča), лентяйствам (lentjajstvam)
• Macedonian: безде́лничи (bezdélniči)

Adjective

fribble (comparative more fribble, superlative most fribble)

1. Of little or no importance, frivolous.

Translations

Of little or no importance

• Bulgarian: маловажен (bg) (malovažen), незначителен (bg) (neznačitelen)
• Macedonian: незначи́телен (neznačítelen)

Noun

fribble (plural fribbles)

1. A trifling action.
2. A trifler.
3. A frivolous, contemptible fellow; a fop.
   • 1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “A Paper out of The Spectator”, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume III, London: […] Smith, Elder, & Company, […], →OCLC, page 68:

     The plot of the piece was quite a new one. A young woman was repreſented with a great number of ſuitors, ſelecting a pert fribble of a peer, in place of the hero; […]

Translations

frivolous, contemptible fellow

• Bulgarian: лентяй (bg) (lentjaj), безделник (bg) (bezdelnik)
• Macedonian: бе́зделник m (bézdelnik)