Yabbered

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To talk incessantly or in a rapid way that is hard to understand
2. to chatter or jabber without clear articulation
3. to engage in meaningless or fast speech that lacks coherence

Etymology: "Yabbered" is the past tense of "yabber," which the Oxford English Dictionary-style record dates to 1855. The verb is most likely a modification of "yaba," a word in Woiwurrung, an Aboriginal language of the Melbourne area in southeastern Australia, meaning "to speak." It was picked up by English speakers in the Australian colonies, where settlers and Aboriginal people were in close contact, and it carried the sense of talking with a lot of noise or in a way that was hard to follow. The word's path into English shows how colonial speech borrowed from local languages. Early settlers in Victoria heard Aboriginal words for everyday actions and adapted them to their own speech, often with changes in sound and ending to fit English habits. "Yabber" fits that pattern: a short Woiwurrung root reshaped into an English verb that could take the regular past tense "-ed," giving "yabbered."

Synonyms: chattered, jabbered, prattled, babble, gabbled

Antonyms: quieted, silenced, hushed, stopped talking