blatherskite

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From blather +‎ skite (shit, shite). Alternatively the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary asserts that the word is of Scottish origin, with blather/blether + skate referring to someone who is "contemptible".[1] First use of the term dates to the mid-17th century.[1] Compare cheapskate.

Noun

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blatherskite (countable and uncountable, plural blatherskites)

  1. A voluble purveyor of nonsense; a blusterer.
    • 1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 32, in Babbitt:
      Babbitt was frightened, but he had an agonized instinct that if he yielded in this he would yield in everything. He protested: “You're exaggerating, Colonel. I believe in being broad-minded and liberal, but, of course, I'm just as much agin the cranks and blatherskites and labor unions and so on as you are. []
  2. A worthless fellow; a deadbeat.
  3. Nonsense or blather; empty talk.

References

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