blatherskite
noun/ˈblæðəɹˌskaɪt/
Etymology 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". First use of the term dates to the mid-17th century. Compare cheapskate.
1
A voluble purveyor of nonsense; a blusterer.
- She never had any ideas, any more than a fog has. She was a perfect blatherskite; I mean for jaw, jaw, jaw, talk, talk, talk, jabber, jabber, jabber; but just as good as she could be.1889, Mark Twain, “Slow Torture”, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, New York: Charles L. Webster & Company:
- 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. […]”1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 32, in Babbitt:
1 more example
- Silence in the courtroom, you blatherskite!1951 July 14, The Wearing of the Grin, spoken by O'Mike:
2
A worthless fellow; a deadbeat.
- Who social circle ape to lead, / Without the solid requisite; / Where high pretension is the creed, / And every look betrays the breed; / Avaunt, ye vulgar blatherskite.1872, Levi Bishop, “Blatherskite”, in Teuchsa Grondie: A Legendary Poem, 2nd edition, Albany: Weed, Parsons and Company, pages 546–547:
- When that man there, Bruce Dunlap, had most worried the life and sense out of Uncle Silas till at last he plumb lost his mind and hit this other blatherskite, his brother, with a club, I reckon he seen his chance.1896, Mark Twain, “Tom Sawyer Discovers the Murderers”, in Tom Sawyer, Detective:
3
Nonsense or blather; empty talk.
- Now such a state of affairs as that is unknown in England. To print this statement is to expose ourselves there to the suspicion of blatherskite and exaggeration.1894 February, “English and American Theories”, in Lend a Hand, volume 12, number 2, Boston: J. Stilman Smith & Co, page 88: