a1225 ( Rule St. Benet (Winteney) (1888) vi. 31 Gabbunge [OE Corpus Cambr. gegafspræce; L. scurrilitates] odðo idele worde & þa, þe leahter aræreð, mid ecæne loce on ælcen steden we fordyttoð.

c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) l. 626 Þu me telst of oþer þinge, Of mine briddes seist gabbinge.

a1425 Rule St. Benet (Lansd.) (1902) 34 (MED) Ye draȝe yu mare fra mete and drinke & fra slepe, and fra speche, And fra gabbingis [L. scurrilitate].

a1300 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Vitell.) (1966) l. 35 Þine gabbinge deþ me wo.

c1390 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 14th Cent. (1924) 150 Bakbyte þou no mon, blod ny bon, But ay let gabbynges glyde and gon.

a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) II. 229 (MED) What good doiþ þis gabbing, þat þe pope wole be clepid ‘moost hooly fadir’.

a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Merlin (1904) I. l. 7253 (MED) Antron..hym belevyd non thing..but seide pleynly he made gabbyng.

1530 Myroure Oure Ladye (Fawkes) (1873) iii. 328 Here beware that ye make no gabbynge.

1568 C. Watson in tr. Polybius Hystories To Rdr. Sig. A.iij^v Least I might incurre the suspition of certain in that Getical kind of gabbing.

1627 J. Minsheu Ductor in Linguas Gabberies, gabbings, wilie deceits, gullings or cheatings.

1823 W. Hone Anc. Myst. Described Addenda 287 I am not accustomed to make fables, nor tell no gabbings, but I am believed of truth.

1869 T. Wright in Student 2 449 When the primeval warriors sat round their hall drinking their ale or mead, one of their great amusements was uttering extravagant boasts of the feats which each had done, or would do... This proceeding was called gabbing, and the boasts and jests were called gabs.

1903 Treasury Sept. 1119/1 Did not Charlemagne and his twelve peers delight in ‘Gabs’? Nay, did not Archbishop Turpin, holy man, excel in ‘gabbing’?

2006 M. A. Screech in F. Rabelais Gargantua & Pantagruel 120 The boasting of the heroes before the battle corresponds to the traditional ‘gabbing’ of knights before battle in the chivalrous romances.

a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail xxviii. l. 476 (MED) Elles wolden they holden it for A gabbyng.

a1450 York Plays (1885) 157 (MED) Such gabbyngis may me noȝht be-gyle.

1582 S. Batman Vppon Bartholome, De Proprietatibus Rerum sig. ¶¶^v/2 Gabbing, prating, or vnseemly speaking.

1767 Flowers of Forest in R. Forbes tr. Ovid Ajax his Speech (new ed.) 50 Nae daffin, nae gabbin, but sighing and sabbing.

1830 J. Galt Lawrie Todd I. ii. v. 120 Giving such gabbing the go by.

1898 Maitland (New S. Wales) Weekly Mercury 22 Oct. 16/3 You know right well, ma'am, you can never get along without her, so where's the good of your gabbing.

1917 Spokesman Aug. 238/1 The sniffing up of wise noses and gabbing of gossipers.

1943 Arizona Independent Republic 26 June 1/1 This apology makes a paradox of the gabbings of Paul Joseph Goebbels, the pint-sized propaganda minister of the reich.

2007 T. Berg Great Amer. Supper Swap 62 Whenever we get together, we joke that the guys do more of the gabbing than we do.

1571 E. Grant tr. Plutarch President for Parentes sig. Vv For olde hoare hearedmen by such gabbing Gnathoes..are aflicted and conuerted into luctuous heauinesse.

1805 G. McIndoe Poems & Songs 50 Vile gashan, gapean, gabbin gaist.

1835 R. Nicoll Poems & Lyrics 11 He's a gabbin' bit birkie, the Auld Beggar Man.

1890 J. Coghill Poems, Songs, & Sonnets 42 The tither gi'es a glib harangue, A gabbin' chiel.

1910 J. Farnol Broad Highway (1911) xxv. 154 You've got the gift o' the gab, and a gabbing man is worse than a gabbing woman.

1981 J. Webster Grain of Truth xv. 120 When the man had finally departed, one farmer turned to the other and summed up the creature with unmistakable disgust: ‘A gabbin' vratch!’

2013 A. Waldman Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. (2014) 146 Throughout the meal, he experienced a disorienting..feeling of being subsumed by a klatch of gabbing women.