babber

/ˈbæbə/

Etymology

Probably a modification of baby: compare babby (“baby”) (Britain, dialectal).

noun

  1. A baby.“We began the business of settling in. Tom took to watching over the babber, when it wasn't getting its milk.”
  2. A friend.“Ow bis me babber? […] How's it going?”
  3. A fisherman using babs (“baits consisting of bundles of live worms”) to catch eels.“Another way of taking eels, and by far the more ingenious, is that known as "babbing," or "bobbing." A series of large worms are strung on cobbler's worsted and coiled into a knot. […] I have known a couple of "babbers" to take as many as four or five stone of eels in a single night.”