drool

Etymology

It is apparently a dialect variant or contraction from English of drivel,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} first recorded in the spellings “drule” and “dreul” and then as drool from 1867–69.^[3] The American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster Unabridged call it perhaps an alteration of the older verb,^[8][9] and Dictionary.com takes it as a variant of the form “driule”, itself a variant of it.^[10] The older verb goes back through Middle English drevelen to Old English dreflian (“to slaver, run at the nose”),^[8][4] which Etymonline derives from Proto-Germanic *drab- and tentatively connects with Proto-Indo-European *dher- (“to make muddy, darken”).^[4] The OED instead takes the Old English verb as a derivative, with the suffix -le, of the Germanic base of draff.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To slobber, to let saliva run from the mouth as an infant does: 1802, in the form drule,^[4][3][9] although the OED's first record is from 1810.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word grew up in the dialects of south-western England and in America: Wright's English Dialect Dictionary records drool, dreul and drule in Northamptonshire, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall for a teething baby dribbling, figuratively for talking foolishly like an idiot or a child, and in Dorset, Devon and Cornwall for wasting time.^[11] The noun, spittle, is American and colloquial, from 1867–69 in the transactions of the Illinois Agricultural Society;^[12][3][5] in Scotland a drool was a slow or slothful person from 1825.^[5][7] In American college slang of 1900 both the noun and the verb were used for nonsense or aimless talk,^[12][5] and Green's Dictionary of Slang records the verb, originally Australian, for idling or loafing from 1923.^[12] The figurative sense of salivating over something desired, showing excessive pleasure or enthusiasm, is recorded by Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Collins.^[9][13]

Timeline

• 1802 – to slobber or dribble, in the form drule.^[3][4][9] The OED's first record is from 1810.^[5]
• 1825 – noun, in Scotland, a slow or slothful person.^[5][7]
• 1867–69 – noun, saliva flowing from the mouth, originally American.^[12][3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to 1869 and the OED to 1870.^[9][5]
• 1900 – noun and verb, nonsense or aimless talk.^[12][5]
• 1923 – to idle or waste time.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To let saliva run from the mouth; to dribble or slaver: The puppy drooled all over my shoe.^[9][13][7]
2. To produce saliva in anticipation of food.^[9][7]
3. To show excessive pleasure or enthusiasm, usually followed by over: Collectors drooled over the vintage cars.^[13][9]
4. To talk nonsense; to drivel.^[13][12][5]

Noun

1. Saliva flowing from the mouth.^[9][13][5]
2. (colloquial) Nonsense; foolish or empty talk.^[9][13][5]

Word family

• drooly

Related words

• drivel
• draff

Usage notes

A Scots verb drool, to make a mournful sound or to utter mournfully, is of unknown origin: the Shorter Oxford dates it to the mid-17th century and calls it obsolete except in Scots,^[7] Wright's English Dialect Dictionary records it as obsolete, from Roxburghshire,^[11] and the OED enters it as droul (before 1670 to 1825), comparing a Scots droul, to bellow like a hart.^[5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
12. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins