gossip sb.:
1.
a child's godfather or
godmother, sponsor (always with ref. to their
relation to the parents)
Gent. III. i. 270
“'tis not a maid, for
she hath had g-s”
(i.e. for a child of hers),
Wint. II. iii. 41
“About some g-s for your
highness,”
H8 V. v. 13
“My noble g-s”
(=sponsors to Princess Elizabeth).
2.
friend
Mer.V. III. i. 7
“my Report,”
Rom. II. i. 11
“my Venus”
; used as a prefix to a woman's surname Wiv. IV. ii. 9,
2H4 II. i. 106
“ Quickly.”
3.
applied to a woman's
female friends invited to be present at a birth,
(hence) tattling or gossiping woman
MND. II. i. 47
“sometime lurk I in a
's
bowl,”
Mer.V. III. i. 9
“as lying a . . as
ever knapped ginger,”
Tit. IV. ii. 152
“long-tongu'd ,”
Rom. III. v. 172; fig.
Tw.N. I. v. 294; so gossip-like
Ado V. i. 193.
