Babeln.

Brit.

/ˈbeɪbl/, U.S.

/ˈbeɪb(ə)l/,

/ˈbæb(ə)l/

Forms: 1500s–1600s Babell, 1500s– Babel, 1800s Bawbel (Scottish). Also with lower-case initial.

Origin: From a proper name. Etymon: proper name Babel.

Etymology: < Babel, the name of a city in ancient Babylonia (see note) < classical Latin Babel (Vulgate: Genesis 11:9, etc.) < Hebrew Bāḇel (see below). The senses of the English noun largely reflect the details of the biblical story of the building of the Tower of Babel and its various results (e.g. the confusion of languages, and the failure of the project), but were probably influenced early on by association with the (etymologically unrelated) babble n. and babble v.¹ Compare French Babel confusion of opinions, confused discourse (1762; 1555 in an isolated attestation in Middle French in uncertain sense (perhaps ‘place characterized by pride’ or ‘place characterized by confusion’), in a pejorative context with reference to Rome). With the anti-Catholic uses in sense 4 compare the note at Babylon n.² 1.Hebrew Bāḇel shows a borrowing of the Akkadian name of the city, bāb-ilim , lit. ‘the gate of the god’ (in later sources (from the 9th cent. b.c. onwards) also bāb-ili ‘the gate of the god’ and bāb-ilī ‘the gate of the gods’; in both of these compounds, the second element could be written with various inflectional endings). This in turn probably reflects a folk-etymological reapprehension (as if < Akkadian bāb gate (cognate with Hebrew bāb and Arabic bāb , in same sense) + ili god, cognate with the words for ‘god’ in other Semitic languages cited at Allah n.) of a place name of unknown origin, probably a borrowing from a substrate language. Compare the Sumerian name of the city of Babel, ká.dingir.ra, lit. ‘the gate of the god’, which probably shows a calque on the Akkadian name. In Genesis 11, Hebrew Bāḇel is folk-etymologically associated with Hebrew bālal ‘to confuse, confound’. The name of the city and tower of Babel (with reference to the story from Genesis 11:1–9) is attested in English contexts from the Old English period onwards (also in Middle English as Babelle, and in Older Scots and early modern English as Babell):OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) xi. 9 For ðam man nemde ða stowe Babel, for ðam ðar wæron todælede ealle spæce.a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 671 Babel ðat tur bi-lef un-mad, Ðat folc is wide on lon sad. ▸ a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. xi. 9 Þerfor was clepid þe name of it Babel [L. Babel], for þer was confoundid þe lypp of all erþ. ▸ a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 251 Þat place is i-cleped Babel, þat is to menynge schedynge [L. confusio]; for þere..þe longages..of þe bulders were i-schad and to schift.c1450 Mandeville's Trav. (Coventry) (1973) l. 1319 In Babiloine, I telle you welle, There is þe toure of Babelle; In þe grete desert hit stant certein Bitwene Arabie and Macedoyn.?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1869) II. 251 God dispersede theyme rather leste thei scholde make dissencion amonge theyme selfe, whiche place was callede Babel [L. Babel], sowndenge ‘a confusion.’a1530 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Royal) i. 879 A Towre of huge hycht Wes bygyt..That towre Babell callyde he.1611 Bible (King James) Gen. xi. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because the Lord dyd there confounde the language of all the earth.1731 J. Chapman Remarks Let. to Dr. Waterland 41 The variety of idioms now spoken can be no way possibly accounted for, without either approving the preadamite system, or allowing a formation of new languages at Babel.1854 M. Willson Outl. Hist. i. 13 The country in the vicinity of the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates, where stood the tower of Babel, was known us the Land of Shinar.1992 C. Strickland & J. Boswell Annotated Mona Lisa 6 Biblical writers saw the magnificent, 270-foot-high Tower of Babel as an emblem of man's arrogance in trying to reach heaven.2004 B. Olsen Sacred Places around World 41 The original Tower of Babel was reported to have been taller than the Great Pyramid in Egypt, and built at a time when there was a common language among all people.

In various allusive uses, in which something is likened to the city or tower of Babel.

1. A confused or discordant medley of sounds, esp. of voices; a hubbub, a din. Perhaps influenced by babble n. 2 in later use.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > loudness > confused sound > [noun]

noise?a1400

clattera1500

Babela1529

burlinga1533

burle1563

tintamarre1567

coil1582

flipper-de-flapper1640

clutter1655

Babel sound1710

jargon1711

charivari1735

oratorio?1737

hubbub1779

callithump1843

a1529 J. Skelton Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng in Certayne Bks. (?1545) 387 A clatterynge and a babell Of folys fylly.

a1665 J. Earle Char. Tavern (1675) 2 All with loud hooting and laughing confound the noise of Fidlers..; 'Tis a Babel of Voices.

1785 S. Felton Explanation Several Hogarth's Prints 41 It would be no very easy question to determine which of the many noises in this Babel of savage sounds would be the most tormenting.

1863 C. Kingsley Water-babies i. 32 Such a noise, row, hubbub, babel, shindy, hullabaloo.

1884 Manch. Examiner 16 Sept. 4/7 This confused and confusing babel of..idle objurgations.

1915 C. Mathewson Catcher Craig xiv. 183 Then quiet returned, or, rather, comparative quiet, for the coachers had no intention of letting up on their babel.

1940 ‘M. Innes’ Secret Vanguard ii. 21 The little restaurant had emptied and in place of a babel of talk and the clatter knives and forks there was only the rumble of traffic outside.

1995 G. Bauer Tokyo, my Everest 90 Snippets of thick New York brogue cutting through the Babel of sound.

2. A scene of noisy confusion; (also) a jumbled, disparate, or discordant collection of people or things.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > [noun] > a scene or place of confusion

Troy-banea1520

Troy-towna1520

whirlpool?1529

Babel1537

whirlwind1714

jungle1850

morass1867

Troy-fair1870

three-ring circus1898

monkey house1910

madhouse1917

amateur night1937

1537 tr. Original & Sprynge All Sectes f. 60 Beholde..thys Babel or confusion, and compare with thys the Heythenysh and Turkysh secte..which goeth aboute, mommynge wyth so many visores.

1640 J. Fletcher & J. Shirley Night-walker ii. sig. D3 All the chambers Are a meere babell, or another bedlam.

1738 J. Swift Reasons Humbly offered in Polit. Tracts II. The whole Babel of Sectaries joined against the Church.

1798 P. Francis Let. 18 Sept. in Francis Lett. (1901) II. 432 As for silence the Abbaye of La Trappe is a mere Babel to this house.

1830 Fraser's Mag. 1 747 Nae mair can there be a periodical out o' this confused Bawbel.

1860 G. P. Morris Poems 173 We are only two, dear brother, in this babel wide!

1909 W. F. Warren Earliest Cosmol. 160 It will be more profitable to turn from such a Babel of ideas, over which the darkness of Hades itself seems to have fallen.

1949 Billboard 26 Nov. 95/1 The showmen and women turn out,..and the hall is a babel of extroverts.

2003 P. Pulzer Jews & German State (new ed.) p. xix A society composed of a kaleidoscope or Babel of ethnic or life-style groups whose very variety defines the society they live in.

3. A tall or imposing structure, often one (esp. in early use) which may collapse; also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > types of building generally > [noun] > high building

towerc897

steeplec1000

Babel1554

pile1573

Babel tower1588

castle1642

minar1665

skyscraper1883

scraper1928

prang1929

slab1952

high-rise1962

multi-storey1969

1554 Soueraigne Cordial sig. A.iiii Worcke they neuer so crafteli, build they neuer so stronglie, yet shal their Babell fal down.

1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 177 The huge Gargantua of prose, and..the heauen-surmounting Babell of Ryme.

a1701 H. Maundrell Journey Aleppo to Jerusalem (1703) 16 What remains of this mighty Babel..is no more than twenty foot high.

1790 M. De Fleury Brit. Liberty Established i. 11 Heav'n puffs at their designs from his high throne, And, frowning, shakes their mighty Babels down.

1820 J. H. Wiffen Aonian Hours (ed. 2) 17 Columns of Corinthian brass, Babels of stone, and pyramids of clay.

1863 Times 3 Nov. 12/2 There are dowagers, with headdresses which tower up like crinigerous Babels.

1913 T. M. Browne Drake's Bay 44 We build our Babels great and tall, To lift us into space.

1991 I. Sinclair Downriver (1995) vii. 189 The hoists, the containers stacked into unoccupied babels: this was a transitional landscape that would never achieve resolution.

4. derogatory. Rome, esp. as the seat of the Pope and the centre of authority of the Roman Catholic Church; (more generally) the Roman Catholic Church. Cf. Babylon n.² 1. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > sect > Christianity > Roman Catholicism > [noun]

RomeeOE

Babylon1530

popishness1531

popery?1536

popistry?1542

papistry1543

mass-monging1552

antichristianity1555

antichristianism1588

Babel1599

papacy1599

Romanism1603

poping1608

Babylonism1610

Catholicism1613

Romanality1637

catholicship1653

Romishness1653

Roman Catholicism1662

Roman Catholicity1806

catholicity1830

popism1841

old religion1934

1599 E. Spenser in L. Lewkenor tr. G. Contarini Commonw. & Gouernment Venice sig. ❧ 3^v The antique Babel, Empresse of the East, Vpreard her buildinges to the threatned skie: And Second Babell tyrant of the West, Her ayry Towers vpraised much more high.

1600 F. Hastings Apol. or Def. Watch-word 194 Your counterfaite Ward is too weake to keepe in safetie, and strength your Romish Babell or the Bishops thereof.

1723 I. Martin Tryal & Sufferings Ded. It may be of use, towards giving to those..who have not..seen the cruel effects of Popish Tyranny, a just abhorrence for the Spirit of Bigotry and Persecution, and for all the other Abominations of the Roman Babel.

1889 Minutes & Proc. 4th Gen. Council of Alliance Reformed Churches 277 I love my Roman Catholic brethren every day more;..but I also hate Rome, this great sinning Babel, with all the strength of my Christ-loving heart.

1919 A. B. Rhine tr. H. Graetz Pop. Hist. Jews IV. 344 Rome, the sin-laden Catholic Babel, was taken by storm by the German (mostly Lutheran) soldiery.

5. An ambitious or unrealistic project; a visionary scheme, esp. one doomed to failure.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > [noun] > product of > visionary scheme

Babel1711

Babel scheme1715

pie in the sky1911

1600 C. Tourneur Transformed Metamorph. sig. B3^v Her [sc. Ambition's] high esteeme, is of high heau'n despisde; O see ere long her Babel Babelliz'd.

1605 G. Buck Δαϕνις Πολυστεϕανος xxvi. sig. E3^v Then comes his sonne with other architects (Not to build Babels and Castles in the ayre) But hee a holy house for God proiects.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iii. 468 And still with vain designe New Babels, had they wherewithall, would build.

1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 167. ⁋3 The fond Builder of Babels.

1757 M. Postlethwayt Great Britain's True Syst. ix. 212 Certain it is that this Babel of Paper-Credit must have its Fall.

1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess iv. 68 Let be Their cancell'd Babels.

1953 I. F. Reichert Judaism & Amer. Jew 6 How frequently in our own lifetime have we not seen..new Babels built by men of destiny with doubtful credentials as social architects!

Compounds

C1. attributive, with the sense ‘resembling or reminiscent of that at Babel’ (see the etymology).In some quots. passing into adjectival use.

Babel confusion n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > [noun]

brabbling1530

confusion1530

ruffle1533

pell-mellc1586

confusedness1587

huddle1606

Babel confusion1653

promiscuity1663

hugger-mugger1674

promiscuousness1676

clutter1692

jumblement1706

muddle1808

embranglement1826

mare's nest1837

muddlement1857

muddledom1891

muddliness1891

mêlée1895

mix-up1898

huddledom1923

buggeration1962

mixed-upness1967

1653 R. Baxter Christian Concord 101 Sion is not built by the Babel-confusions.

1731 J. Chapman Remarks Let. to Dr. Waterland 33 What a ridiculous Figure would Gesner or Scaliger or Bochart have made in Chronology, and Critique, if they had refer'd the French, Italian, English and many other Tongues to the Babel-Confusion!

1852 C. M. Sedgwick New Eng. Tale & Misc. (new ed.) 332 A hundred weapons were drawn, and pointed at Montano. There was a Babel confusion of sounds.

2006 Plant Physiol. 141 384/1 To avoid a Babel confusion of languages, we propose necrosis to depict accidental cell death caused by extrinsic factors.

Babel-sea n. [ < Babel n. + sea n. 7] now rare

ΚΠ

1852 Fraser's Mag. Mar. 313/2 The Babel sea, which weltered up and down every street.

1923 B. Harmon Mosaics 33 There will be stillness pregnant and profound, An island in a Babel-sea of sound.

Babel sound n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > loudness > confused sound > [noun]

noise?a1400

clattera1500

Babela1529

burlinga1533

burle1563

tintamarre1567

coil1582

flipper-de-flapper1640

clutter1655

Babel sound1710

jargon1711

charivari1735

oratorio?1737

hubbub1779

callithump1843

1710 E. Settle Thalia Lacrimans: L. Lytton 13 Ay, there's true felt Grief: That Babel Sound Does all the Languages of Joy confound.

1816 R. Southey Poet's Pilgrimage i, in Wks. X. 20 All disregardant of the Babel sound.

2004 L. W. Tentler Catholics & Contraception v. 174 Amid the sometimes Babel sounds, one thing is clear: this was a church that took its sexual teaching seriously.

Babel tower n.

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > types of building generally > [noun] > high building

towerc897

steeplec1000

Babel1554

pile1573

Babel tower1588

castle1642

minar1665

skyscraper1883

scraper1928

prang1929

slab1952

high-rise1962

multi-storey1969

1588 E. B. in D. Archdeacon tr. True Disc. Armie King of Spaine Ep. to Rdr. 8 The Spanishe king..hath by hys ships, made like Babel towers, vaunted himselfe to make vs afrayd.

1603 J. Davies Microcosmos 208 Vp goe his Babell-Towres of Pompe and Pride, That to the High'st he may next neighbour be.

1772 J. Spencer Hermas II. xii. 165 All transient views, fame, learning, riches, power, Sink to their base, or build a Babel Tower.

1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) vi. 46 Babel towers of chimneys.

2005 C. W. E. Bigsby Arthur Miller v. 67 Lawrence Newman finds himself trapped in a nightmare, a Babel Tower of misunderstandings, conflicting languages, clashing values, secret codes and ciphers.

C2.

Babel builder n. a person likened to a builder of the Tower of Babel, esp. in being arrogant or unrealistic.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > builder > [noun] > builders of other structures

barn-builder1604

redeemera1610

Babel builder1610

vaulter1648

superstructor1669

pontifex1686

bridge-builder1752

bridger1958

1610 H. Broughton Reuelation Holy Apocalyps (new ed.) 142 Euery thing..being turned to seruice of Idolls grone in Gods estieme, as corrupted:..such were Babel builders, till heathen came to God.

c1746 J. Hervey Medit. (1818) 39 God from on high laughs at the Babel-builder.

1864 Finsbury Mag. Jan. 317 When we meet with some wild enthusiast or fanatic, we instantly call him a Babel-builder.

1945 J. R. R. Tolkien Let. 9 Aug. (1995) 116 We're in God's hands. But He does not look kindly on Babel-builders.

1992 T. Gustafson Representative Words ii. iv. 114 Emerson in Circles is the voice of pentecostal aspiration, but he also must be recognized to be at the same time, paradoxically, a Babel builder.

Babel scheme n. now rare a project regarded as comparable to the building of the Tower of Babel, esp. in exhibiting arrogance.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > [noun] > product of > visionary scheme

Babel1711

Babel scheme1715

pie in the sky1911

1715 S. Asplin Sermon 15 To such a Pitch of Tyrannizing over every Thing, that look'd like Loyalty, and Conscience, and Conformity to the best Church and King in the World, did that execrable Monster Cromwell rear up his Babel Scheme.

1729 R. Savage Wanderer ii. v The traitors rear their babel-schemes.

1864 Gospel Mag. 1 Sept. 419/2 His love our hollow hopes dispels,..And spoils the pride of Babel schemes.

1920 G. M. Price Back to Bible (ed. 3) i. 23 God may allow this long-interrupted Babel scheme to be renewed and let men have their way.

Derivatives

ˈBabel-like adv. and adj.

ΚΠ

1630 J. Taylor All Wks. 114/2 The tongues confusion in our braue Exchange Shall Babell like declare thy story strange.

1642 Anat. of Separatists 3 They frame a long Babel-like prayer, made up with hums and hawes.

1732 W. Holmes Plain Reasons against joining with Nonsubscribers 9 What kind of Babel-like confusion should this make?

1824 Christian Spectator Feb. 76/1 Each with all his might, Babellike, jabbering away in his own language.

1901 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 12 Apr. 382/2 The danger of a crushing conglomeration which may at any time fall to pieces by its own weight and, Babel-like, involve its disintegrated elements in greater confusion and division.

2002 Burlington Mag. Apr. 255/3 One had the Babel-like sense of industrious workers busily..going about their work on this all-dominating object.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

单词	babel
释义	Babeln. Brit. /ˈbeɪbl/, U.S. /ˈbeɪb(ə)l/, /ˈbæb(ə)l/ Forms: 1500s–1600s Babell, 1500s– Babel, 1800s Bawbel (Scottish). Also with lower-case initial. Origin: From a proper name. Etymon: proper name Babel. Etymology: < Babel, the name of a city in ancient Babylonia (see note) < classical Latin Babel (Vulgate: Genesis 11:9, etc.) < Hebrew Bāḇel (see below). The senses of the English noun largely reflect the details of the biblical story of the building of the Tower of Babel and its various results (e.g. the confusion of languages, and the failure of the project), but were probably influenced early on by association with the (etymologically unrelated) babble n. and babble v.¹ Compare French Babel confusion of opinions, confused discourse (1762; 1555 in an isolated attestation in Middle French in uncertain sense (perhaps ‘place characterized by pride’ or ‘place characterized by confusion’), in a pejorative context with reference to Rome). With the anti-Catholic uses in sense 4 compare the note at Babylon n.² 1.Hebrew Bāḇel shows a borrowing of the Akkadian name of the city, bāb-ilim , lit. ‘the gate of the god’ (in later sources (from the 9th cent. b.c. onwards) also bāb-ili ‘the gate of the god’ and bāb-ilī ‘the gate of the gods’; in both of these compounds, the second element could be written with various inflectional endings). This in turn probably reflects a folk-etymological reapprehension (as if < Akkadian bāb gate (cognate with Hebrew bāb and Arabic bāb , in same sense) + ili god, cognate with the words for ‘god’ in other Semitic languages cited at Allah n.) of a place name of unknown origin, probably a borrowing from a substrate language. Compare the Sumerian name of the city of Babel, ká.dingir.ra, lit. ‘the gate of the god’, which probably shows a calque on the Akkadian name. In Genesis 11, Hebrew Bāḇel is folk-etymologically associated with Hebrew bālal ‘to confuse, confound’. The name of the city and tower of Babel (with reference to the story from Genesis 11:1–9) is attested in English contexts from the Old English period onwards (also in Middle English as Babelle, and in Older Scots and early modern English as Babell):OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) xi. 9 For ðam man nemde ða stowe Babel, for ðam ðar wæron todælede ealle spæce.a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 671 Babel ðat tur bi-lef un-mad, Ðat folc is wide on lon sad. ▸ a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. xi. 9 Þerfor was clepid þe name of it Babel [L. Babel], for þer was confoundid þe lypp of all erþ. ▸ a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 251 Þat place is i-cleped Babel, þat is to menynge schedynge [L. confusio]; for þere..þe longages..of þe bulders were i-schad and to schift.c1450 Mandeville's Trav. (Coventry) (1973) l. 1319 In Babiloine, I telle you welle, There is þe toure of Babelle; In þe grete desert hit stant certein Bitwene Arabie and Macedoyn.?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1869) II. 251 God dispersede theyme rather leste thei scholde make dissencion amonge theyme selfe, whiche place was callede Babel [L. Babel], sowndenge ‘a confusion.’a1530 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Royal) i. 879 A Towre of huge hycht Wes bygyt..That towre Babell callyde he.1611 Bible (King James) Gen. xi. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because the Lord dyd there confounde the language of all the earth.1731 J. Chapman Remarks Let. to Dr. Waterland 41 The variety of idioms now spoken can be no way possibly accounted for, without either approving the preadamite system, or allowing a formation of new languages at Babel.1854 M. Willson Outl. Hist. i. 13 The country in the vicinity of the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates, where stood the tower of Babel, was known us the Land of Shinar.1992 C. Strickland & J. Boswell Annotated Mona Lisa 6 Biblical writers saw the magnificent, 270-foot-high Tower of Babel as an emblem of man's arrogance in trying to reach heaven.2004 B. Olsen Sacred Places around World 41 The original Tower of Babel was reported to have been taller than the Great Pyramid in Egypt, and built at a time when there was a common language among all people. In various allusive uses, in which something is likened to the city or tower of Babel. 1. A confused or discordant medley of sounds, esp. of voices; a hubbub, a din. Perhaps influenced by babble n. 2 in later use. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > loudness > confused sound > [noun] noise?a1400 clattera1500 Babela1529 burlinga1533 burle1563 tintamarre1567 coil1582 flipper-de-flapper1640 clutter1655 Babel sound1710 jargon1711 charivari1735 oratorio?1737 hubbub1779 callithump1843 a1529 J. Skelton Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng in Certayne Bks. (?1545) 387 A clatterynge and a babell Of folys fylly. a1665 J. Earle Char. Tavern (1675) 2 All with loud hooting and laughing confound the noise of Fidlers..; 'Tis a Babel of Voices. 1785 S. Felton Explanation Several Hogarth's Prints 41 It would be no very easy question to determine which of the many noises in this Babel of savage sounds would be the most tormenting. 1863 C. Kingsley Water-babies i. 32 Such a noise, row, hubbub, babel, shindy, hullabaloo. 1884 Manch. Examiner 16 Sept. 4/7 This confused and confusing babel of..idle objurgations. 1915 C. Mathewson Catcher Craig xiv. 183 Then quiet returned, or, rather, comparative quiet, for the coachers had no intention of letting up on their babel. 1940 ‘M. Innes’ Secret Vanguard ii. 21 The little restaurant had emptied and in place of a babel of talk and the clatter knives and forks there was only the rumble of traffic outside. 1995 G. Bauer Tokyo, my Everest 90 Snippets of thick New York brogue cutting through the Babel of sound. 2. A scene of noisy confusion; (also) a jumbled, disparate, or discordant collection of people or things. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > [noun] > a scene or place of confusion Troy-banea1520 Troy-towna1520 whirlpool?1529 Babel1537 whirlwind1714 jungle1850 morass1867 Troy-fair1870 three-ring circus1898 monkey house1910 madhouse1917 amateur night1937 1537 tr. Original & Sprynge All Sectes f. 60 Beholde..thys Babel or confusion, and compare with thys the Heythenysh and Turkysh secte..which goeth aboute, mommynge wyth so many visores. 1640 J. Fletcher & J. Shirley Night-walker ii. sig. D3 All the chambers Are a meere babell, or another bedlam. 1738 J. Swift Reasons Humbly offered in Polit. Tracts II. The whole Babel of Sectaries joined against the Church. 1798 P. Francis Let. 18 Sept. in Francis Lett. (1901) II. 432 As for silence the Abbaye of La Trappe is a mere Babel to this house. 1830 Fraser's Mag. 1 747 Nae mair can there be a periodical out o' this confused Bawbel. 1860 G. P. Morris Poems 173 We are only two, dear brother, in this babel wide! 1909 W. F. Warren Earliest Cosmol. 160 It will be more profitable to turn from such a Babel of ideas, over which the darkness of Hades itself seems to have fallen. 1949 Billboard 26 Nov. 95/1 The showmen and women turn out,..and the hall is a babel of extroverts. 2003 P. Pulzer Jews & German State (new ed.) p. xix A society composed of a kaleidoscope or Babel of ethnic or life-style groups whose very variety defines the society they live in. 3. A tall or imposing structure, often one (esp. in early use) which may collapse; also figurative. ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > types of building generally > [noun] > high building towerc897 steeplec1000 Babel1554 pile1573 Babel tower1588 castle1642 minar1665 skyscraper1883 scraper1928 prang1929 slab1952 high-rise1962 multi-storey1969 1554 Soueraigne Cordial sig. A.iiii Worcke they neuer so crafteli, build they neuer so stronglie, yet shal their Babell fal down. 1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 177 The huge Gargantua of prose, and..the heauen-surmounting Babell of Ryme. a1701 H. Maundrell Journey Aleppo to Jerusalem (1703) 16 What remains of this mighty Babel..is no more than twenty foot high. 1790 M. De Fleury Brit. Liberty Established i. 11 Heav'n puffs at their designs from his high throne, And, frowning, shakes their mighty Babels down. 1820 J. H. Wiffen Aonian Hours (ed. 2) 17 Columns of Corinthian brass, Babels of stone, and pyramids of clay. 1863 Times 3 Nov. 12/2 There are dowagers, with headdresses which tower up like crinigerous Babels. 1913 T. M. Browne Drake's Bay 44 We build our Babels great and tall, To lift us into space. 1991 I. Sinclair Downriver (1995) vii. 189 The hoists, the containers stacked into unoccupied babels: this was a transitional landscape that would never achieve resolution. 4. derogatory. Rome, esp. as the seat of the Pope and the centre of authority of the Roman Catholic Church; (more generally) the Roman Catholic Church. Cf. Babylon n.² 1. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > faith > sect > Christianity > Roman Catholicism > [noun] RomeeOE Babylon1530 popishness1531 popery?1536 popistry?1542 papistry1543 mass-monging1552 antichristianity1555 antichristianism1588 Babel1599 papacy1599 Romanism1603 poping1608 Babylonism1610 Catholicism1613 Romanality1637 catholicship1653 Romishness1653 Roman Catholicism1662 Roman Catholicity1806 catholicity1830 popism1841 old religion1934 1599 E. Spenser in L. Lewkenor tr. G. Contarini Commonw. & Gouernment Venice sig. ❧ 3^v The antique Babel, Empresse of the East, Vpreard her buildinges to the threatned skie: And Second Babell tyrant of the West, Her ayry Towers vpraised much more high. 1600 F. Hastings Apol. or Def. Watch-word 194 Your counterfaite Ward is too weake to keepe in safetie, and strength your Romish Babell or the Bishops thereof. 1723 I. Martin Tryal & Sufferings Ded. It may be of use, towards giving to those..who have not..seen the cruel effects of Popish Tyranny, a just abhorrence for the Spirit of Bigotry and Persecution, and for all the other Abominations of the Roman Babel. 1889 Minutes & Proc. 4th Gen. Council of Alliance Reformed Churches 277 I love my Roman Catholic brethren every day more;..but I also hate Rome, this great sinning Babel, with all the strength of my Christ-loving heart. 1919 A. B. Rhine tr. H. Graetz Pop. Hist. Jews IV. 344 Rome, the sin-laden Catholic Babel, was taken by storm by the German (mostly Lutheran) soldiery. 5. An ambitious or unrealistic project; a visionary scheme, esp. one doomed to failure. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > [noun] > product of > visionary scheme Babel1711 Babel scheme1715 pie in the sky1911 1600 C. Tourneur Transformed Metamorph. sig. B3^v Her [sc. Ambition's] high esteeme, is of high heau'n despisde; O see ere long her Babel Babelliz'd. 1605 G. Buck Δαϕνις Πολυστεϕανος xxvi. sig. E3^v Then comes his sonne with other architects (Not to build Babels and Castles in the ayre) But hee a holy house for God proiects. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iii. 468 And still with vain designe New Babels, had they wherewithall, would build. View more context for this quotation 1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 167. ⁋3 The fond Builder of Babels. 1757 M. Postlethwayt Great Britain's True Syst. ix. 212 Certain it is that this Babel of Paper-Credit must have its Fall. 1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess iv. 68 Let be Their cancell'd Babels. 1953 I. F. Reichert Judaism & Amer. Jew 6 How frequently in our own lifetime have we not seen..new Babels built by men of destiny with doubtful credentials as social architects! Compounds C1. attributive, with the sense ‘resembling or reminiscent of that at Babel’ (see the etymology).In some quots. passing into adjectival use. Babel confusion n. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > [noun] brabbling1530 confusion1530 ruffle1533 pell-mellc1586 confusedness1587 huddle1606 Babel confusion1653 promiscuity1663 hugger-mugger1674 promiscuousness1676 clutter1692 jumblement1706 muddle1808 embranglement1826 mare's nest1837 muddlement1857 muddledom1891 muddliness1891 mêlée1895 mix-up1898 huddledom1923 buggeration1962 mixed-upness1967 1653 R. Baxter Christian Concord 101 Sion is not built by the Babel-confusions. 1731 J. Chapman Remarks Let. to Dr. Waterland 33 What a ridiculous Figure would Gesner or Scaliger or Bochart have made in Chronology, and Critique, if they had refer'd the French, Italian, English and many other Tongues to the Babel-Confusion! 1852 C. M. Sedgwick New Eng. Tale & Misc. (new ed.) 332 A hundred weapons were drawn, and pointed at Montano. There was a Babel confusion of sounds. 2006 Plant Physiol. 141 384/1 To avoid a Babel confusion of languages, we propose necrosis to depict accidental cell death caused by extrinsic factors. Babel-sea n. [ < Babel n. + sea n. 7] now rare ΚΠ 1852 Fraser's Mag. Mar. 313/2 The Babel sea, which weltered up and down every street. 1923 B. Harmon Mosaics 33 There will be stillness pregnant and profound, An island in a Babel-sea of sound. Babel sound n. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > loudness > confused sound > [noun] noise?a1400 clattera1500 Babela1529 burlinga1533 burle1563 tintamarre1567 coil1582 flipper-de-flapper1640 clutter1655 Babel sound1710 jargon1711 charivari1735 oratorio?1737 hubbub1779 callithump1843 1710 E. Settle Thalia Lacrimans: L. Lytton 13 Ay, there's true felt Grief: That Babel Sound Does all the Languages of Joy confound. 1816 R. Southey Poet's Pilgrimage i, in Wks. X. 20 All disregardant of the Babel sound. 2004 L. W. Tentler Catholics & Contraception v. 174 Amid the sometimes Babel sounds, one thing is clear: this was a church that took its sexual teaching seriously. Babel tower n. ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > types of building generally > [noun] > high building towerc897 steeplec1000 Babel1554 pile1573 Babel tower1588 castle1642 minar1665 skyscraper1883 scraper1928 prang1929 slab1952 high-rise1962 multi-storey1969 1588 E. B. in D. Archdeacon tr. True Disc. Armie King of Spaine Ep. to Rdr. 8 The Spanishe king..hath by hys ships, made like Babel towers, vaunted himselfe to make vs afrayd. 1603 J. Davies Microcosmos 208 Vp goe his Babell-Towres of Pompe and Pride, That to the High'st he may next neighbour be. 1772 J. Spencer Hermas II. xii. 165 All transient views, fame, learning, riches, power, Sink to their base, or build a Babel Tower. 1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) vi. 46 Babel towers of chimneys. 2005 C. W. E. Bigsby Arthur Miller v. 67 Lawrence Newman finds himself trapped in a nightmare, a Babel Tower of misunderstandings, conflicting languages, clashing values, secret codes and ciphers. C2. Babel builder n. a person likened to a builder of the Tower of Babel, esp. in being arrogant or unrealistic. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > builder > [noun] > builders of other structures barn-builder1604 redeemera1610 Babel builder1610 vaulter1648 superstructor1669 pontifex1686 bridge-builder1752 bridger1958 1610 H. Broughton Reuelation Holy Apocalyps (new ed.) 142 Euery thing..being turned to seruice of Idolls grone in Gods estieme, as corrupted:..such were Babel builders, till heathen came to God. c1746 J. Hervey Medit. (1818) 39 God from on high laughs at the Babel-builder. 1864 Finsbury Mag. Jan. 317 When we meet with some wild enthusiast or fanatic, we instantly call him a Babel-builder. 1945 J. R. R. Tolkien Let. 9 Aug. (1995) 116 We're in God's hands. But He does not look kindly on Babel-builders. 1992 T. Gustafson Representative Words ii. iv. 114 Emerson in Circles is the voice of pentecostal aspiration, but he also must be recognized to be at the same time, paradoxically, a Babel builder. Babel scheme n. now rare a project regarded as comparable to the building of the Tower of Babel, esp. in exhibiting arrogance. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > [noun] > product of > visionary scheme Babel1711 Babel scheme1715 pie in the sky1911 1715 S. Asplin Sermon 15 To such a Pitch of Tyrannizing over every Thing, that look'd like Loyalty, and Conscience, and Conformity to the best Church and King in the World, did that execrable Monster Cromwell rear up his Babel Scheme. 1729 R. Savage Wanderer ii. v The traitors rear their babel-schemes. 1864 Gospel Mag. 1 Sept. 419/2 His love our hollow hopes dispels,..And spoils the pride of Babel schemes. 1920 G. M. Price Back to Bible (ed. 3) i. 23 God may allow this long-interrupted Babel scheme to be renewed and let men have their way. Derivatives ˈBabel-like adv. and adj. ΚΠ 1630 J. Taylor All Wks. 114/2 The tongues confusion in our braue Exchange Shall Babell like declare thy story strange. 1642 Anat. of Separatists 3 They frame a long Babel-like prayer, made up with hums and hawes. 1732 W. Holmes Plain Reasons against joining with Nonsubscribers 9 What kind of Babel-like confusion should this make? 1824 Christian Spectator Feb. 76/1 Each with all his might, Babellike, jabbering away in his own language. 1901 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 12 Apr. 382/2 The danger of a crushing conglomeration which may at any time fall to pieces by its own weight and, Babel-like, involve its disintegrated elements in greater confusion and division. 2002 Burlington Mag. Apr. 255/3 One had the Babel-like sense of industrious workers busily..going about their work on this all-dominating object. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.a1529
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