Word of the Day: Flibbergibbet

flibbergibbet: (n.) an irresponsible, silly, gossipy person, who lacks good judgment; a flighty or frivolous woman; muggins, saphead, tomfool, fathead, wally, meshuggeneh, gossipmonger, newsmonger, rumormonger, cat, blabbermouth, talebearer, chatterbox, nosey parker, busybody, meddler, parrot, prattler, snoop, tabby, buttinsky, fink, fussbudget, intermeddler, windbag, quidnunc

...The modern spelling is due to Shakespeare, who borrowed it from one of the 40 fiends listed in a book by Samuel Harsnet in 1603. In King Lear Edgar uses it for a demon or imp: “This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet. .. He gives the web and the pin, squints the eye, and makes the harelip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creature of earth."...

Here's a bit of trivia: Did you know that the word "gossip" comes from a transmutation of a contraction for "god's siblings"? Hawthorne uses the word "gossips" in The Scarlet Letter to refer to the women townsfolk, and not because they are necessarily flibbergibbets or rumormongers.