gabba, noun

/ˈxabə//ˈxaba/
Forms:
Also chabba, gubba.
Origin:
Yiddish, Hebrew, DutchShow more Adaptation of Yiddish khaver, from Hebrew haver comrade, friend (also found in Dutch as gabber, and in the San languages as gaba).
colloquial
A friend, pal.
1970 G.E.Q. Absolom Informant, GermistonGubba. Friend.
1971 P.J. Silva Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)Today they fight — tomorrow they’ll be gabbas.
1974 T. Dell ‘Heaven is my Motorbike’. (lyrics)And when I see it in the morning light, All chromy, chabba, it is pure delight.
1978 M. Darhe in Sunday Times 8 Oct. (Mag. Sect.) 1What he ignored were the products of mixed marriages. And that, my gabbas, is where there’s the rub.
1987 Scope 6 Nov. 34I’ve just come to visit the outside world for a while...Just to tell my gabbas I’m still in circulation.
1992 H. Hamman in Scope 13 Nov. 36A greaser from Queenstown...He glanced at his mates, all gabbas..and adjusted his leather jacket.
A friend, pal.
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colloquial
gaandereij, nounn.gabowie, nounn.
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