haverern.
/ˈheɪv(ə)rə/, U.S. /ˈheɪv(ə)rər/, Scottish English /ˈhev(ə)rər/ 1. Chiefly Scottish. A person given to foolish or inconsequential chattering; a garrulous person, a chatterbox. Cf. haverel n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > empty, idle talk > [noun] > one who indulges in
praterc1500
bumbard?a1513
babbler?1555
jabberer1678
bag of wind1816
haverel1825
haverer1825
windbag1827
clatfarta1930
natterer1959
1825 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae xix, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 373 ‘Similitude in dissimilitude,’ as that haverer Wordsworth is sae fond o' talking and writing about.
1845 Heath's Bk. Beauty 120 But only hark till the bairn's story,—Jessie's no a haverer.
1916 G. Cannan Three Sons & Mother xix. 207 What a fool I am, and a haverer. I've been talking to you as I might to wee Mary and what I've wished to say I could not say.
2000 Scotsman 12 Oct. 16/7 (caption) How Skye moved a wee tartan haverer to poetry.
2. Chiefly British. A vacillating or indecisive person, organization, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > [noun] > irresolute or vacillating person
demurrer1533
hanger1536
staggerer1552
hobbler1575
tennis ball1589
waverer1597
halter1608
suspender1625
waver1667
fluttererc1726
oscillator1798
pendulum1818
shilly-shallyer1832
shilly-shally1834
wobbler1837
hesitater1853
dilly-dallier1880
vacillator1890
haverer1947
1947 Economist 5 Apr. 490/1 Each party concerned is now seeking, by inaction, to avoid prejudicing its position... The United States is the third haverer.
1980 Philosophy 55 328 The haverer may not hesitate to assert that p but he may be uncertain how to assert it (as a knower or as a believer)?
2012 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 24 June 41 [His] 20-part series on Radio Four on doubt has turned us into a nation of haverers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1825