fribble-frabble
Morphology
ablaut reduplicationClassification
nonsenseDefinition
nonsense.Quotations
First attested in 1859.Elaboration
"From fribble (OED a 1627) to falter; to trifle, 'fiddle'; a trifling fellow; frivolity, nonsense. Prob. no connection with frabble (OED 1685) confused wrangling.' (Thun, p 101.)References
The Oxford English dictionary, 2nd ed. Edited by J.A. Simpson and E.S.C. Weiner. Clarendon Press, 1989. [See biblography.]Nils Thun. Reduplicative words in English: a study of formations of the types tick-tick, hurly-burly, and shilly-shally. 1963. [See biblography.]
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