bauble
/ˈbɔbəl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.29 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees.
Example Sentences
- "[…] as to the bauble on which the chief proof rests, if she had earnestly desired it, I should have willingly given it to her, so much do I esteem and value her."
- "Have none before or after him staked all their treasure of life, as a savage does his land and possessions against a draught of the fair-skins’ fire-water, or a couple of bauble eyes?"
- "Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade."
- "His hind quarters were likewise short, and not racinglike, and taken as a specimen of the horse, he was a mere bauble when looked at by the side of an English race-horse, much less a hunter."
- "Harry dreamed he was back in the D.A. room. Cho was accusing him of luring him there under false pretenses; she said that he had promised her a hundred and fifty Chocolate Frog cards if she showed up. Harry protested....Cho shouted, "Cedric gave me loads of Chocolate Frog cards, look!" And she pulled out fistfuls of cards from inside her robes and threw them in the air, and then turned to Hermione, who said, "You did promise her, you know, Harry....I think you'd better give her something else instead....How about your Firebolt?" And Harry was protesting that he could not give Cho his Firebolt because Umbridge had it, and anyway the whole thing was ridiculous, he'd only come to the D.A. room to put up some Christmas baubles shaped like Dobby's head...."
Etymology
From Middle English bable, babel, babull, babulle, from Old French babel, baubel (“trinket, child's toy”), most likely a reduplication of bel, ultimately from Latin bellus (“pretty”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbɔbəl/
- British English: [ˈbɔːbəɫ]