fribble

Perhaps related to frivol.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɹɪbəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

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fribble (third-person singular simple present fribbles, present participle fribbling, simple past and past participle fribbled)

1. To waste or fritter.
2. To behave in a frivolous way.
   • 1897, Stanley John Weyman, “Archdeacon Hodden's Tribulation”, in For the Cause:

     The parish districts--and especially their lady visitors--declared that they were neglected; the rector never got a quiet cup of tea in his own house, nor even a quiet placid moment; for the sounds of young people laughing and, as Mrs. Fretchett called it, "fribbling" upstairs would float down to him working in his study, and then he would pish and pshaw, and move his chair impatiently.

   • 1984, Guy Davenport, Apples and Pears:

     We dried in the sun on a boulder as warm as a dying stove, and fribbled and monkeyed with each other, priming for later.

3. To totter.

fribble (comparative more fribble, superlative most fribble)

1. Of little or no importance, frivolous.

fribble (plural fribbles)

1. A trifling action.
2. A trifler.
3. A frivolous, contemptible fellow; a fop.

   Synonyms: dandyling, popinjay; see also Thesaurus:dandy

   • 1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “A Paper out of The Spectator”, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. , volume III, London: Smith, Elder, & Company, , →OCLC, page 68:

     The plot of the piece was quite a new one. A young woman was repreſented with a great number of ſuitors, ſelecting a pert fribble of a peer, in place of the hero; […]