A gathering or event where people talk continuously and enthusiastically, often without a specific agenda or purpose.
American slang from early 1900s, combining 'gab' (to talk excessively) with 'fest' (festival or gathering), modeled on German -fest compounds. The word reflects the informal, playful way Americans created new words for social occasions.
Gabfest is a perfect example of how English borrowed the German suffix -fest (as in Oktoberfest) and made it productive—Americans loved this suffix so much they attached it to everything: gabfest, slugfest, lovefest. It shows how languages steal what works from each other.
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