confab
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L318475 on Wikidata ↗verb
- to confabulate
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈkɒnfæb/ / /kənˈfæb/ / /kɑn-/
noun
Etymology: Clipping of confabulation, from Middle English confabulacion (“conversation”), from Latin confābulātiōnem, from cōnfābulārī + -tiōnem (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or their results); see further at etymology 2.
- Clipping of confabulation (“a casual chat or talk”).
“But, Sir, as I am in haſte, we had better refer the Diſpute at preſent—any other Time I am at your Service for a Confab of a few Hours—I ſhall run thro' my Buſineſs with as brief Prolixity as poſſible— [...]”
“[January 4, 1810.] [...] At six to la Baronne Knebel, chez lui Princess Caroline. Tea and cheerful confab.”
verb
Etymology: Clipping of confabulate, from Latin cōnfābulārī + English -ate (suffix forming verbs with the sense of acting in the specified manner). Cōnfābulārī is the present active infinitive of cōnfābulor (“to converse; to discuss”), from con- (prefix indicating a bringing together) + fābulor (“to chat, converse, talk; to make up a story”) (from fābula (“discourse, narrative; fable, story”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to say, speak”)) + for (“to say, speak, talk”)).
- Clipping of confabulate (“to speak casually with somebody; to chat”).
“[T]o mak conquests o' bits o' lasses, ye would hae been sitting in your forlorn chair, confabbing wi' Jock, about whether by rope, or gun, was the easiest way o' deeing.”
“He had actually argued and "confabbed" with a strange jeweller, and he had asked him questions about his wife; his delicate little Hélène!”