gaby

See also: Gaby

English

Alternative forms

• gabey

Etymology

Uncertain.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡeɪbi/
• Rhymes: -eɪbi
• Homophone: gayby

Noun

gaby (plural gabies)

1. (UK, regional) A stupid, foolish person; a simpleton; a dunce.

   Synonyms: guffin, nincompoop, fool

   • 1860 January–June, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, chapter 1, in Lovel the Widower, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1861, →OCLC:

     I daresay I made a gaby of myself to the world

   • 1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days:

     His wrath, then, was proportionately violent when he was aware of two boys, who stopped close by him, and one of whom, a fat gaby of a fellow, pointed at him and called him "Young mammy-sick!"

   • 1902, John Kendrick Bangs, chapter 10, in Olympian Nights:

     "[Y]ou're a jobbernowl and a doodle, a maundering mooncalf and a blockheaded numps, a gaby and a loon; you're a Hatter!" I shrieked the last epithet.

   • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 2”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

     "You pair of gabeys!" she exclaimed. "You'll see him before the night's out."

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡabɨ/

Etymology 1

Conjunction

gaby

1. if

   Synonyms: -li, gaž, joli

Etymology 2

Univerbation of gaž (“if”) +‎ by (“would”)

Verb

gaby (defective, invariable)

1. if… would

Further reading

• Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “gaby”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
• Starosta, Manfred (1999) “gaby”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag