English

Noun

bab ‎(plural babs)

1. (Britain, informal) Baby
2. (Angling, East Anglia) A bait for eels, consisting of a bundle of live worms.
   • 2006 February 1, Meiklejohn, John, “Babbing for eels”, in BBC - WW2 People's War:

     The worms were threaded onto the yarn until we had 4 or 5 feet of big juicy worms threaded through. We would coil it all up and put an old rusty nut at the centre and tie it on a bit of string on an old ash pole — this was the bab.

Synonyms

• (baby): see Wikisaurus:baby
• (bait): clod

Verb

bab ‎(third-person singular simple present babs, present participle babbing, simple past and past participle babbed)

1. (Angling, East Anglia) To fish for eels using a bab.
   • 1884, Davies, George Christopher, Norfolk Broads and Rivers, W. Blackwood and sons, page 244:

     The babbers follow the eels, and you may see fifteen boats as close together as possible, babbing away, and catching as much as four stone-weight of eels per boat of a night.

   • 1948, Guy, William, Mostly Memories: Some Digressions, C. J. Cousland, page 24:

     Sometimes we trolled or set liggers for pike, we seldom babbed for eels, it was such a slimy job.

   • 2006 February 1, Meiklejohn, John, “Babbing for eels”, in BBC - WW2 People's War:

     Another classic example was babbing for eels; he would come along and say — ‘Goodnight for babbing, make you some babs’.

Anagrams

• abb, B.B.A.

Hungarian

Etymology

From a Slavic language, compare Serbo-Croatian bob, Slovak bôb, Russian боб ‎(bob, “bean”), from Proto-Slavic *bobъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɒb]

Noun

bab ‎(plural babok)

1. bean

Declension

Synonyms

• fuszulyka (regional)
• paszuly (regional)

Derived terms

• babzsák
• szójabab

Indonesian

Etymology

From Arabic [script needed].

Noun

bab

1. chapter

Irish

Noun 1

bab m ‎(genitive singular bab, nominative plural babanna)

1. Alternative form of bob ‎(“bob; fringe”)

Noun 2

bab m ‎(genitive singular bab, nominative plural babanna)

1. Alternative form of bob ‎(“stump, target”)

Declension

Mutation

References

• "bab" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.

Kurdish

Alternative forms

• bav

Noun

bab m

1. father

Lojban

Rafsi

bab

1. rafsi of zbabu.

Malay

Etymology

From Arabic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bap/
• Rhymes: -bap, -ap

Noun

bab

1. chapter (section in a book)

Meriam

Noun

bab

1. father or paternal uncle

Rohingya

Etymology

From Bengali.

Noun

bab

1. father

Romansch

Alternative forms

• (Puter, Vallader) bap

Etymology

From Late Latin *babbus. Compare Sardinian babbu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [baːp]

Noun

bab m (plural babs)

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran) father

Coordinate terms

• mamma

See also

• pader (term to address a priest or monk)

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

bab m ‎(genitive singular baba, plural baban or babannan)

1. tuft, tassel
2. child's excrement (hence abab)
3. stain
   • Bithidh sin 'n a bhab air fhad 's is beò e.‎

     That will be a stain on him as long as he lives.

Related terms

• abab

References

• Faclair Gàidhlig Dwelly Air Loidhne, Dwelly, Edward (1911), Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan/The Illustrated [Scottish] Gaelic-English Dictionary (10th ed.), Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, ISBN 0 901771 92 9
• A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language (John Grant, Edinburgh, 1925, Complied by Malcolm MacLennan)