The "fribler"

[Mark Mandel]

Sounds a bit familiar.

Cf "fribble", OED:
 2. intr. In early use, to act aimlessly or feebly, to busy oneself to
no purpose; to ‘fiddle’. Now (exc. dial.) only in strongly
contemptuous sense: To behave frivolously, trifle. Â Â Â Â b. trans. to
fribble away: to throw away or part with lightly, fool away. to
fribble out (nonce-use): to portray with purposeless minuteness.


Freedictionary:
frib·ble
v. frib·bled, frib·bling, frib·bles
v.tr.
To waste (time, for example); fritter (something) away.
v.intr.
To waste time; trifle.
n.
1. A frivolity; a trifle.
2. A frivolous person.
[Origin unknown.]
fribbler n.
________________________________
fribble [ˈfrɪbəl]
vb
1. (tr) to fritter away; waste
2. (intr) to act frivolously; trifle
n
a wasteful or frivolous person or action
adj
frivolous; trifling
[of unknown origin]
fribbler  n

===========

So, a man who frivols with women's hearts, who wastes their love negligently.

m a m

On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 9:11 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> Not in the OED, and new to me. Â My first encounter was in Thomas A.
> Forster's _Sex and the Eighteenth-Century Man_ (2006), p. 115.
> -----
>
> 1710. Â [Charles Johnson.] Â The Force of Friendship. A Tragedy. ... To
> which is Added, A Farce call'd Love in a Chest. Â London: Printed for
> Egbert Sanger, 1710. Â p. 49. Â [The quotation is from "Love in a
> Chest".] Â [ECCO]
>
> Seb. Â What injury has this Lady done you Sir, to merit your impudent
> Addresses, thou Impotent Fribler?
>
> [Sebastian is the young man in love with Theresa, and vice versa; he
> is speaking to Fascinetti, "an old [and superannuated] Fellow in Love
> with Theresa".]
> -----
>
> 1712 Jan. 30: Â The Spectator, no. 288. Â [GB snippet, no page; but
> apparently II. 360 (see Gordon Williams book, below)]
>
> They whom my Correspondent calls Male Coquets, shall hereafter be
> called Friblers.[1] A Fribler is one who professes Rapture and
> Admiration for the Woman to whom he addresses, and dreads nothing so
> much as her Consent. His Heart can flutter by the Force of
> Imagination, but cannot fix from the Force of Judgement.
> -----
>
> 1742. Â [? attributed to Thomas Carte.] Â The Blatant-Beast. A
> Poem. Â London: Printed for J Robinson, 1742. Â p. 9. Â [ECCO.]
>
> With Malice swoll'n, Pride, Envy, Avarice,
> Ingratitude attends this Train to Vice.
> Yet one remains untold; with Lust endu'd,
> Behold the Fribler lab'ring to be lewd.
> -----
>
> 1779 May: Â The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, vol.
> 49, p. 227. Â [GB full view]
>
> Those, however, who are unacquainted with either persons or facts
> will receive pleasure in reading Mr. Garrick's admirable satire
> published on this occasion, intituled The Fribleriad,* a Poem, which
> had the honour of being highly commended by Churchill, who has also
> given a very server correction to the same person.
>
> * This piece is printed, with other performances of wit and humor, in
> The Repository, A Collection of Fugitive Pieces published by Dilly,
> 1777; vol. II. p. 27 ...
>
> [Apparently also in 1779: Â The Annual Register, or a View of the
> History, Politics, and Literature for the Year 1779 [in "A New
> Edition", 1796], vol. 22, p. 53. Â [GB full view.]
> -----
>
> Gordon Williams, A dictionary of sexual language and imagery in
> Shakespearean and (1994), claims:
>
> Johnson, Love in a Chest (1710) Ii has the variant 'thou Impotent
> Fribler', a word which Steele, Spectator 288 (30 Jan. 1712; II. 360)
> professes to coin ...
> -----
>
> Joel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org