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gubbins

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gubbins¹

  • /ˈɡʌb.ɪnz/ UK

Where it comes from

Ante 1553. From gobbin (“piece, portion, slice”), from Middle English goboun, from Anglo-Norman gobon. Compare with English gobony (“line of alternating squares”).

noun

  1. obsolete, plural, plural only Fragments; parings; scraps (especially of fish). [H]ough you hungerſtarued gubbins or offales of men, how thriue you, howe periſh you, [...]
  2. UK, informal, plural, plural only Assorted stuff, especially if of little value; tat. I had to memorise so much dialogue that never makes it into the movie so I always have a plethora of extra gubbins I can't remember.

    Similar: Sorted by number of Google hits, widget, hickey, gizmo, thingy, gimmick, thingie, jigger, gismo, gubbins, whatsit, thingamajig

noun gubbins

  1. UK, informal Silly person; fool. "Silly gubbins," she said. "You told me twice, and I was interested even the second time. […]"

    Similar: fool

Gubbins²

noun

  1. plural, plural only A half-savage race said to live in Devonshire, described by the pastoral poet William Browne, among others.

Gubbins³

Where it comes from

Patronymic surname from a variant of the personal name Gibbon.

proper noun Gubbinses

  1. A surname originating as a patronymic.

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MLA

"gubbins." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/gubbins. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

gubbins. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/gubbins

Chicago

"gubbins." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/gubbins.

BibTeX
@misc{gubbins_2026,
  title = {gubbins},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/gubbins},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}