1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xliii. And we’ll have a big-wig, Charley: one that’s got the greatest gift of the gab: to carry on his defence.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., 250. People reckon me one of the best patterers in the trade. I’m reckoned to have the gift—that is, the gift of the gab.
1869. Whyte-Melville, M. or N., p. 29. I’ve got the gift of the gab, I know, and I stick at nothing.
1870. Lond. Figaro, 18 Sept. ‘Of all gifts possessed by man,’ said George Stephenson, the engineer, to Sir William Follett, ‘there is none like the gift of the gab.’
1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 193. Others, although they have the gift of the gab when they are on the ground, as soon as they mount the cart are dumbfounded.
To blow the gab, verb. phr. (vulgar).—To inform; to peach (q.v.). Also to blow the gaff (q.v.).
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. 5. Never blow the gab or squeak.
To flash the gab, verb. phr. (common).—To show off (q.v.) in talk; cf., Air one’s vocabulary.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 2. While his Lordship … that very great dab At the flowers of rhet’ric is flashing his gab.