blah, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

blah v.

also blah-blah

[onomat.]

1. to chatter, to gossip.

1929		E. Dahlberg Bottom Dogs 250: He spent much of his time sitting against the brass railings going down the front stone steps of the Y., where he could blah with a newsie or watch a well-turned leg.
1951		Kerouac On the Road (The Orig. Scroll) (2007) 110: I got drunk and blah-blahed somewhat.
1999		Guardian Guide 5–12 June 15: So we blah-blah a while, and it turns out yes, he’s this English director.

2. to speak in an insincere, pompous manner; thus intensified as blah-blah-blah.

1960		A. Burgess Right to an Answer (1978) 92: The two of you [...] blah-blah-blahing about the sanctity of this and the bloody inviolability of that.
1961		C. Cooper Jr Weed (1998) 204: ‘At Grandmommie’s house,’ he blahed at her.
1999		Guardian Rev. 11 Sept. 12: Even after another raft of much-blahed price cuts.

In phrases

blah, blah, blah

1. (also blahdy blahdy blah) a phr. used to imply that a statement is meaningless, hollow, nonsense, albeit delivered in the most serious of tones.

1924		in R. Butterfield Sat. Eve. Post Treasury (1954) 17 May 289: That blah-blah-blah-blah, and so on.
1929		(con. 1917–18) C. MacArthur War Bugs 194: Blah, blah, blah, blah, and ‘we had such a wonderful dance on board Lione’s boat’.
1932		(con. 1917–19) Dos Passos Nineteen Nineteen in USA (1966) 415: ‘Blahblahblahblah,’ brayed Ned in the man’s face.
1941		Dundee Courier 18 Dec. 2/2: It’s all official blah, blah, blah, until the test comes.
1951		Kerouac On the Road (The Orig. Scroll) (2007) 117: Chatter-chatter, blah-blah, and me swearing for all the time and money I’d wasted.
1959		A. Sinclair Breaking of Bumbo (1961) 116: Blah, blah, blah. Bumbo wonders to hear his mouth string platitudes.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 204: Bloody salesmen. Shouting at us over the radio [...] and filling newspapers up with their blah blah blah.
1964		Larner & Tefferteller Addict in the Street (1966) 134: They brought me the priest and he said blah blah blah blah, the last words.
1967		L. Bruce Essential Lenny Bruce 247: This I never heard, blah-blah-blah. He said blah-blah-blah?
1972		G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle 65: You can give me a whole ration of shit and this and that and blah, blah, blah.
1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 250: The fluctuating baseline of the writing reveals the writer to be affected [...] Blah, blah, blah, blah.
1983		A. Payne ‘Willesden Suite’ Minder [TV script] 55: I would like to say what a pleasure, indeed an honour, blah blah, great honour, blah blah, pillars of the community blah, blah.
1991		L. Bing Do or Die (1992) 187: He didn’t like it, he didn’t feel comfortable, blah, blah, blah.
1998		Source Oct. 200: You driving a 600 Benz and you just got mad diamonds and blah blah.
1999		Guardian Rev. 5 Nov. 8: Harmony, you’re so inspiring, oh Harmony blah blah blah.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 163: You can fuckin hear the justification . . . guaranteed Breakfast Show playlist, blah-blah-blah.
2000		T. Blacker Kill Your Darlings 251: You’re a writer yeah yeah, blahdy-blah.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 1: Cuffed up and getting the old ‘you do not have to say anything, blah blah blah’ routine.
2000		P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 137: Some last-minute advice on how to play it cool [...] blahdy blahdy blah.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 28: He read me my rights an tell me wha I been arrested for. Which as per usual is on suspicion of bla bla an fuckin bla on the fuckin bla bla night of fuckin bla.

2. (Aus./US) as synon. for et cetera, ‘and so on’.

1949		R. Chandler Little Sister 123: Receipt of which you acknowledge on the copy of this letter. Blah, blah, blah.
1982		G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 231: Sworn to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the United States. Blah Blah Blah.
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 52: ‘Blah, blah, blah’ is often used [...] particularly by women, as a substitute for etcetera, etcetera.
1996		(con. 1949) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 272: Only loved the niggers, and the white niggers, and anybody else who could come up with eight bits. Blah, blah, blah.
2004		P. Howard PS, I Scored the Bridesmaids 31: We’re talking a black GTI here, alloys, blah blah blah.

3. an otherwise unidentified object.

1965

L. Bruce How to Talk Dirty 78: Why, that blah-blah-blah is in perfect condition.