prattling

English

Verb

prattling

1. present participle and gerund of prattle

Noun

prattling (plural prattlings)

1. Prattle; foolish speech.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 266:

     I haue heard of your pratlings too wel enough.

   • 1912, Jack London, chapter 1, in The Scarlet Plague‎, New York: Macmillan, published 1915, page 19:

     The boy, who had been regarding him with the tolerant curiousness one accords to the prattlings of the feeble-minded, answered promptly.