blah
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
edit- Sense “Idle, meaningless talk” (1940), probably imitative or echoic in origin. Compare Greek "barbarbar” ‘unintelligible sounds’ (Grillo 1989:174).
- Adjective sense “bland, dull” (1919), perhaps influenced by French blasé (“bored, indifferent”).
- The blahs (“boredom, mild depression”) first attested 1969; extension of adjective sense and influenced by term the blues.
- Also may be connected with bleat
GRILLO, R.D. 1989. Dominant languages: Language and hierarchy in Britain and France. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editblah (countable and uncountable, plural blahs)
- (uncountable, informal) Nonsense; drivel; idle, meaningless talk.
- (informal) (in plural, the blahs) A general or ambiguous feeling of discomfort, dissatisfaction, uneasiness, boredom, mild depression, etc.
- (informal, derogatory) A fool, an idiot.
Synonyms
edit- (nonsense, drivel): bosh, bombast, bunkum, claptrap, eyewash, fustian, rant, hooey, humbug, rubbish, twaddle
- (feeling of boredom, mild depression): malaise
Translations
editnonsense talk
|
Adjective
editblah (comparative more blah, superlative most blah)
- (informal) Dull; uninteresting; insipid.
- Well, the new restaurant seems nice, but their menu is a little blah.
- 2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:
- He was struck by how much pleasure they seemed to take in their daytime lives, how blah their night work was by contrast, how altogether meaningless; […]
- (informal) Low in spirit or health; down.
- I decided to go exercise rather than sit around all day feeling blah.
Interjection
editblah
- An expression of mild frustration.
- (When spoken repeatedly, often three times in succession: blah blah blah!) Imitative of idle, meaningless talk; used sometimes in a slightly derogatory manner to mock or downplay another's words, or to show disinterest in a diatribe, rant, instructions, unsolicited advice, parenting, etc. Also used when recalling and retelling another's words, as a substitute for the portions of the speech deemed irrelevant.
- Synonyms: blah blah, blah blah blah, yada yada yada
- Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah, Mom, you said this all yesterday.
- And then he was like, "Oh, my brother's an Internet millionaire, blah blah blah." Like I care!
- Representing the sound of vomiting.
Translations
editexpression of mild frustration
|
imitative of meaningless talk
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
editblah (third-person singular simple present blahs, present participle blahing, simple past and past participle blahed)
- (intransitive) To utter idle, meaningless talk.
- 2014, Shelagh Stephenson, Ancient Lights, page 28:
- Ooh, I feel so guilty, I've got far too much money — […] So give it away, endow a charitable foundation, burn it, but stop blahing on about it […]
- 2015 August 29, Tony Blair, The Guardian[1]:
- Someone else said to me: “If you’re writing something again, don’t blah on about winning elections; it really offends them.”
Derived terms
editSee also
editAnagrams
editPuoc
editAdjective
editblah
Noun
editblah
Categories:
- English onomatopoeias
- English terms derived from French
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- Rhymes:English/ɑː
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- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English informal terms
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- English interjections
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- Puoc lemmas
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