gossip

Etymology

From Middle English godsybbe, godsib (“a close friend or relation, a confidant; a godparent”), from Old English godsibb (“godparent, sponsor”), equivalent to god + sib. Doublet of godsib. For sense evolution to "gossip, discussing others' personal affairs," compare French commérage.

noun

1. (countable) Someone who likes to talk about other people's private or personal business.
   Be careful what you say to him: he’s a bit of a gossip.
   A losing Gamester, who is obliged to drive into the City to dispose of a little South Sea Stock, gives the Hint there. The Gossips at Garraway’s have it in a Moment: At One it is buzz’d on Change, and the circulating Whisper in the Boxes interrupts the Play at Night. 1752, Arthur Murphy, The Gray’s Inn Journal, volume 1, number 11, page 73
   He was an arrant old gossip, too; for ever coming off in his canoe to the ships in the bay, and regaling their crews with choice little morsels of court scandal […] 1846, Herman Melville, “Sequel Containing the Story of Toby”, in Typee
   Alf could tell you about everybody on both sides of Main Street. He was a vicious male gossip, insatiably curious and vindictive without malice. 1952, John Steinbeck, chapter 48, in East of Eden, London: Heinemann, page 456
2. (uncountable) Idle talk about someone’s private or personal matters, especially someone not present.
   According to the latest gossip, their relationship is on the rocks.
   I have a juicy piece of gossip to share with you.
   The smaller a town the more richly it hums with gossip. There are no private affairs here. Gossip is the air we breathe. 1980, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 2, in Waiting for the Barbarians, Penguin, published 1982, page 32
   Intense nosiness about everybody had always existed in the area. Gossip washed in, washed out, came, went, moved on to the next target. 2018, Anna Burns, chapter 1, in Milkman, London: Faber & Faber
3. (uncountable) Idle conversation in general.
4. (uncountable) A genre in contemporary media, usually focused on the personal affairs of celebrities.
   a gossip columnist
   a gossip blog
5. (computing) Communication done using a gossip protocol.
6. (now only historical) A sponsor; a godfather or godmother; the godparent of one's child or godchild, or the parent of one's godchild.
   Should a great Lady, that was invited to be a Gossip, in her place send her Kitchen-Maid, ’twould be ill taken; 1689, John Selden, Table-Talk, London: Jacob Tonson et al., 1696, “Prayer”, page 134
   When a man stood sponsor for a child at baptism, he became the child's godfather, and gossip to the parents. 1908, Patrick Weston Joyce, A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland: Treating of the Government, Military System, and Law; Religion, Learning, and Art; Trades, Industries, and Commerce; Manners, Customs, and Domestic Life, of the Ancient Irish People, page 287
   Gossips accepted responsibility for the child's spiritual and physical well-being, […] 2010, Susan E. Phillips, Transforming Talk: The Problem with Gossip in Late Medieval England, Penn State Press, page 154
7. (obsolete) A familiar acquaintance.
8. (obsolete) Title used with the name of one's child's godparent or of a friend.
   He was old and infirm, he wrote, and Gossip Death was waiting for him on the moor; but before he went to join him he would like to see Susan’s boy again. 1905, William John Locke, chapter 11, in The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne

verb

1. (intransitive) To talk about someone else's private or personal business, especially in a manner that spreads the information.
   Godfrey felt guilty at having gossiped to Olive about Lettie’s changes in her will. 1959, Muriel Spark, chapter 8, in Memento Mori, New York: Time-Life, 1964, page 109
2. (intransitive) To talk idly.
3. (obsolete) To stand godfather to; to provide godparents for.
   The Pleasure I used to take in telling my Boy Stories of the Battles, and asking my Girl Questions about the Disposal of her Baby, and the Gossiping of it, is turned into inward Reflection and Melancholy. 1709, Richard Steele, “No.95 in The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff”, in The Tatler, London, 1712, page 282
4. (obsolete) To enjoy oneself during festivities, to make merry.
5. (intransitive, computing) To communicate using a gossip protocol.