Drivel is nonsense talked at length. Utter drivel, talking drivel, a load of drivel.
It is stronger than nonsense because it says the speaker went on: drivel is nonsense with volume. It attaches to speeches, columns and comment threads. As a verb it means to talk that way, and in an older sense to dribble — which is where the word comes from, and the connection is not flattering to the speaker.
1noundrivelNonsense talked at length.
“I stopped reading his blog because it was full of drivel about celebrities.”
2verbtalkTo talk nonsense at length.
“He drivelled on about his golf game while we tried to eat.”
drivel is foolish talk.
Middle English dravel comes from a verb meaning to dribble or slaver. The sense of foolish talk came from the image of somebody drooling as they speak.
Middle English
dravel,dribil
English, today
drivel
From Middle English dravel,dribil, a a deverbal from drevelen,drivelen (Etymology 2).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire