To drool, slobber, or speak foolishly; an archaic or dialectal form of 'drivel,' meaning to let saliva flow or to talk nonsense.
Dialectal variant of 'drivel,' from Middle English 'drevelen.' Related to the Dutch 'dravelen' and German 'trave,' all meaning to drool or speak carelessly. The '-el' ending is a common dialectal variation.
Medieval people had SO many words for drooling and talking nonsense—'drevel,' 'drivel,' 'dribble'—because babies, drunk people, and fools all did it, and they needed colorful descriptive vocabulary.
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