flibbertigibbet

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
27
Words With Friends
33
Letters
15
Pronunciation
/ˌflɪbətiˈdʒɪbɪt/
See all 2 pronunciations
/ˌflɪbətiˈdʒɪbɪt/ · /ˈflɪbɚtiˌd͡ʒɪbɪt/ (US)

Definition of flibbertigibbet

3 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. An offbeat, skittish person; especially said of a young woman.
    “All this responsibility at such an early age made her a bitchy flibbertigibbet.”
See all 3 definitions

noun

  1. An offbeat, skittish person; especially said of a young woman.
    “All this responsibility at such an early age made her a bitchy flibbertigibbet.”
  2. A flighty person; someone regarded as silly, irresponsible, or scatterbrained, especially someone who chatters or gossips.
    ““Thou flibbertigibbet,” cried Catwezle, who had been listening, “all is clear as springwater. This Rapkyn was a sorcerer!””
    “‘Ignorant girls. Dizzy young things. It seems to be my fate always to be landed with these flibbertigibbets.’”
  3. (archaic)An imp, a fiend.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

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…

See full etymology

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”.

Words you can make from flibbertigibbet

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8-letter words

2 words

7-letter words

19 words

6-letter words

50 words

5-letter words

61 words

4-letter words

67 words

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