Slabbers

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. Lets saliva drool sloppily from the mouth, often while eating or sleeping
2. Allows spit to run down the chin in a wet, untidy way
3. Drools or slobbers messily, with saliva spilling loosely from the lips

Etymology: "Slabbers" is the third-person singular form of "slabber," which goes back to a Middle Dutch verb meaning "to lap, sup, slaver," and that verb reached English as "slaberen" in the Middle English period. The root is imitative: the word seems to echo the sloppy sound of drinking or eating with a wet mouth, and its older sense of "to make a mess" points the same way. Cognates in Low German, German and Icelandic keep that wet, noisy idea alive. The word also has a second, separate source. The "slab" in "slabber" is not the same as the "slab" of stone or wood. The second etymology listed for the verb, "slab" plus the agentive suffix "-er," is a different and much later formation, and the two strands have merged in modern use. Where the sense is "to drool" or "to slobber," the imitative Dutch-German line is the one that matters.

Synonyms: slobbers, slavers, drools, dribbles