gos´sip|ing|ly

gos|sip «GOS ihp», noun, verb, -siped, -sip|ing.

–n.

1. idle talk, not always true, about other people and their affairs: »

He heard nothing but neighborhood gossip from her without a single fact.

SYNONYM(S): tattle.

2. light, familiar talk or writing: »

Somewhere past Sirius, shade called to shade, “Well, any gossip?...” “Not much. They say that solar god has made some quite amusing things out of his dust” (J. B. Priestley).

3. a person who gossips a great deal: »

a set of malicious, prating, prudent gossips, both male and female, who murder characters to kill time (Richard Brinsley Sheridan).

4. Archaic or Dialect. a friend.

5. Archaic or Dialect. a godparent.

–v.i.

to repeat what one knows or hears about other people and their affairs: »

The old ladies like to sit and gossip about the new neighbors.

–v.t.

1. to repeat like a gossip: »

to gossip scandal.

2. Obsolete. to stand godparent to.

╂[Old English godsibb (originally) godparent < god God + sibb relative]

–gos´sip|er, noun.

–gos´sip|ing|ly, adverb.