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kibitz

 - 3 dictionary results

kib⋅itz

  [kib-its] Informal.
Use kibitz in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to act as a kibitzer.
–verb (used with object)
2. to offer advice or criticism to as a kibitzer: to kibitz the team from the bleachers.
Origin:
1925–30, Americanism; < Yiddish kibetsn, equiv. to G kiebitzen to look on at cards, deriv. of Kiebitz busybody, lit., lapwing, plover
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To kibitz
kib·itz   (kĭb'ĭts)   
intr.v.   kib·itzed, kib·itz·ing, kib·itz·es Informal

  1. To look on and offer unwanted, usually meddlesome advice to others.

  2. To chat; converse.


[Yiddish kibitsen, from German kiebitzen, from Kiebitz, pewit, kibitzer, from Middle High German gībitz, pewit, of imitative origin.]
kib'itz·er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

kibitz 
1927, from Yiddish kibitsen "to offer gratuitous advice as an outsider," from Ger. kiebitzen "to look on at cards, to kibitz," originally in thieves' cant "to visit," from Kiebitz, name of a shore bird (European pewit, lapwing) with a folk reputation as a meddler, from M.H.G. gibitz "pewit," imitative of its cry. Young lapwings are proverbially precocious and active, and were said to run around with half-shells still on their heads soon after hatching.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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