burble

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɝ.bl̩/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɜː.bl̩/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)bəl

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English burblen (“to bubble”), imitative.

Noun

burble (plural burbles)

1. A bubbling, gurgling sound, as of a creek.
   • 1988, Bruce Chatwin, Utz, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN; republished London: Vintage Books, 2005, →ISBN, page 50:

     Marta's gander was a magnificent snow-white bird: the object of terror to foxes, children and dogs. She had reared him as a gosling; and whenever he approached, he would let fly a low contented burble and sidle his neck around her thighs.

2. A gush of rapid speech.
   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 3, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

     He could hear the music in the distance, and the burble and laughter from the library, and a high ringing in his own ears.

3. The turbulent boundary layer about a moving streamlined body.

Translations

sound of water

• Polish: bełkot (pl) m

speech

• Polish: bełkot (pl) m

Verb

burble (third-person singular simple present burbles, present participle burbling, simple past and past participle burbled)

1. (intransitive) To bubble; to gurgle.
2. To babble; to speak in an excited rush.

   She burbled on, as if I cared to listen.

   • 1980 August 16, Andrea Loewenstein, “Random Lust”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 5, page 19:

     "No, Jo, it wasn't one bit crowded, there was room enought ^[sic] for everyone," she burbled on. "And we were there, and all these other wymeen too, of all shapes, sizes, and colors..."

   • 1995 December 21, Tony Chamberlain, “We all love snow games: Some take time to play; others seize chance to panic”, in The Boston Globe, volume 248, number 174, Boston, Mass., page 91:

     “No way this one’s going to miss us this time,” burbles one bebooted doomsdayer to another.

Derived terms

• burbler
• burbly

Translations

to bubble, to gurgle

• Bulgarian: ромоля (bg) (romolja)
• Dutch: murmelen (nl)
• Finnish: pulista (fi)
• Italian: borbugliare
• Maori: kunanu, arawaru (Of running water)
• Portuguese: borbulhar (pt)
• Spanish: borbollar (es), borbotar (es)

speak in an incoherent rush

• Maori: kaihoro i te kupu

Etymology 2

Scottish; probably connected Old French barbouiller (“to confound”).

Noun

burble

1. Trouble; disorder.

Verb

burble (third-person singular simple present burbles, present participle burbling, simple past and past participle burbled)

1. (transitive) To trouble or confuse.

References

• (etymology 1) American Heritage Dictionary.

Anagrams

• beblur, lubber, rebulb, rubble