bauble

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A cheap showy ornament or piece of jewellery; a gewgaw.

   […] as to the bauble on which the chief proof rests, if she had earnestly desired it, I should have willingly given it to her, so much do I esteem and value her.

2. 2
   noun

   Anything trivial and worthless.

   His hind quarters were likewise short, and not racinglike, and taken as a specimen of the horse, he was a mere bauble when looked at by the side of an English race-horse, much less a hunter.

3. 3
   noun

   cheap showy jewelry or ornament on clothing

4. 4
   noun

   a mock scepter carried by a court jester

5. 5
   noun

   A small shiny spherical decoration, commonly put on Christmas trees.

6. 6
   noun

   A club or sceptre carried by a jester.

Etymology

From Middle English bable, babel, babull, babulle, from Old French babel, baubel (“trinket, child's toy”), most likely a reduplication of bel, ultimately from Latin bellus (“pretty”).