bab definition

English bab definition

Etymology

Clipping of babby (“babber”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bæb/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æb

Noun

bab (plural babs)

1. (UK, informal) Baby
2. (fishing, East Anglia) A bait for eels, consisting of a bundle of live worms.
   • 2006 February 1, Meiklejohn, John, “Babbing for eels”, in BBC - WW2 People's War‎^[1]:

     The worms were threaded onto the yarn until we had 4 or 5 feet of big juicy worms threaded through. We would coil it all up and put an old rusty nut at the centre and tie it on a bit of string on an old ash pole — this was the bab.

Synonyms

• (baby): see Thesaurus:baby
• (bait): clod

Verb

bab (third-person singular simple present babs, present participle babbing, simple past and past participle babbed)

1. (intransitive, fishing, East Anglia) To fish for eels using a bab.
   • 1884, Davies, George Christopher, Norfolk Broads and Rivers, W. Blackwood and sons, page 244:

     The babbers follow the eels, and you may see fifteen boats as close together as possible, babbing away, and catching as much as four stone-weight of eels per boat of a night.

   • 1948, Guy, William, Mostly Memories: Some Digressions, C. J. Cousland, page 24:

     Sometimes we trolled or set liggers for pike, we seldom babbed for eels, it was such a slimy job.

   • 2006 February 1, Meiklejohn, John, “Babbing for eels”, in BBC - WW2 People's War‎^[2]:

     Another classic example was babbing for eels; he would come along and say — ‘Goodnight for babbing, make you some babs’.

Anagrams

• B.B.A., BBA, abb, abb.

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Haitian Creole bab definition

Alternative forms

• labab

Etymology

From French barbe.

Noun

bab

1. beard, whiskers

Derived terms

• bab kabrit (“goatee”)
• bab pou bab (“face to face”)

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Hungarian bab definition

Etymology

From a Slavic language, compare Serbo-Croatian bob, Slovak bôb, Russian боб (bob, “bean”), from Proto-Slavic *bobъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɒb]

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒb

Noun

bab (plural babok)

1. bean

   Synonyms: (regional) fuszulyka, (regional) paszuly, (obsolete; today “peas”) borsó

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	bab	babok
accusative	babot	babokat
dative	babnak	baboknak
instrumental	babbal	babokkal
causal-final	babért	babokért
translative	babbá	babokká
terminative	babig	babokig
essive-formal	babként	babokként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	babban	babokban
superessive	babon	babokon
adessive	babnál	baboknál
illative	babba	babokba
sublative	babra	babokra
allative	babhoz	babokhoz
elative	babból	babokból
delative	babról	babokról
ablative	babtól	baboktól
non-attributive possessive - singular	babé	baboké
non-attributive possessive - plural	babéi	babokéi

Possessive forms of bab
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	babom	babjaim
2nd person sing.	babod	babjaid
3rd person sing.	babja	babjai
1st person plural	babunk	babjaink
2nd person plural	babotok	babjaitok
3rd person plural	babjuk	babjaik

Derived terms

Further reading

• bab in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
• bab in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (’A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2022)

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Indonesian bab definition

Etymology

From Malay bab, from Arabic بَاب‎ (bāb).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bab/, [ˈbap̚]
• Rhymes: -bap, -ap, -p
• Hyphenation: bab

Noun

bab (plural bab-bab, first-person possessive babku, second-person possessive babmu, third-person possessive babnya)

1. chapter
2. door, gate

   Synonyms: gapura, pintu

3. case, matter

   Synonyms: hal, masalah

Further reading

• “bab” in Online Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language [Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia Daring], Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

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Irish bab definition

Noun

bab m (genitive singular bab, nominative plural babanna)

1. Alternative form of bob (“bob; fringe”)

Noun

bab m (genitive singular bab, nominative plural babanna)

1. Alternative form of bob (“stump, target”)

Declension

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
bab	bhab	mbab
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “bab”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

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Malay bab definition

Etymology

From Arabic بَاب‎ (bāb).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bap/
• Rhymes: -bap, -ap

Noun

bab (Jawi spelling باب‎, plural bab-bab, informal 1st possessive babku, 2nd possessive babmu, 3rd possessive babnya)

1. chapter (section in a book)

Further reading

• “bab” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

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Meriam bab definition

Noun

bab

1. father or paternal uncle

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Middle English bab definition

Noun

bab

1. Alternative form of babe

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Northern Kurdish bab definition

Alternative forms

• bav

Noun

bab m

1. father

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Palauan bab definition

Etymology

From Pre-Palauan *babo, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *babaw, from Proto-Austronesian *babaw.

Adjective

bab

1. above, top

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Polish bab definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bap/
• Rhymes: -ap
• Syllabification: bab

Noun

bab f

1. genitive plural of baba

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Rohingya bab definition

Alternative forms

• 𐴁𐴝𐴁𐴢‎ (bab) – Hanifi Rohingya script

Etymology

From Sanskrit वप्र (vapra). Cognate with Sylheti ꠛꠣꠙ (baf), Assamese বাপ (bap), Bengali বাপ (bap), Hindi बाप (bāp).

Noun

bab (Hanifi spelling 𐴁𐴝𐴁𐴢)

1. father

   Synonym: baf

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Romagnol bab definition

Etymology

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• (Central Romagnol):
  • (Ravenna): IPA^(key): [ˈbaːb]

Noun

bab m (plural bëb)

1. Alternative form of ba
   • 1920, Olindo Guerrini, Zanichelli, editor, Sonetti romagnoli, published 1967:

     Allora e' babb d' sta bela zuvintò

     And then the father of this beautiful youth

References

• Masotti, Adelmo (1999) Vocabolario Romagnolo Italiano (in Italian), Zanichelli, page 51

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Romansch bab definition

Alternative forms

• (Puter, Vallader) bap

Etymology

From Late Latin *babbus. Compare Sardinian babbu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [baːp]

Noun

bab m (plural babs)

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran) father

Coordinate terms

• mamma

See also

• pader (term to address a priest or monk)

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Scots bab definition

Etymology 1

Compare bob, likely cognate of English bob, from Middle English bobben (“to strike, to shake”).

Verb

bab (third-person singular simple present babs, present participle babbin, simple past bab'd, past participle bab'd)

1. synonym of bob (“to move up and down”)
2. to dance, to hop
   • 1733, Allan Ramsay, “Christ’s Kirk on the Green”, in Poems by Allan Ramsay‎^[3], page 52:

     The lasses bab’d about the reel / Gar’d a’ their hurdies wallop

     The girls danced around the ring / Making their bottoms gallop

Etymology 2

From older Scots bob; compare Middle English bobbe (“cluster of fruit; spray of leaves”).

Noun

bab (plural babs)

1. nosegay, a bunch of flowers; a tassel, a bunch of ribbons
2. (in compounds) something fine, something decorated

   wooer bab ― a garter tied below the knee

3. a lump, dollop
4. (figuratively) a lumpish person, an idiot

Etymology 3

From Northern Middle English bab, a variant of babe.

Noun

bab (plural babs)

1. (obsolete) a babe, baby

References

• “bab, v.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
• “bobben v.¹”, in Middle English Compendium‎^[4], November, 2019
• “bab, n.¹” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
• “bob, n.¹” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
• “bob, n.¹.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–, OCLC 57069714, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• “bobbe”, in Middle English Compendium‎^[5], November, 2019
• “bab, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–, OCLC 57069714, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.

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Scottish Gaelic bab definition

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

bab m (genitive singular baba, plural baban or babannan)

1. tuft, tassel
2. child's excrement (hence abab)
3. stain

   Bithidh sin 'n a bhab air fhad 's is beò e.

   That will be a stain on him as long as he lives.

Related terms

• abab

References

• Edward Dwelly (1911), “bab”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language (John Grant, Edinburgh, 1925, Complied by Malcolm MacLennan)

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Welsh bab definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baːb/

Noun

bab

1. Soft mutation of pab.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
pab	bab	mhab	phab
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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Zazaki bab definition

Noun

bab (m)

1. father (sort form)