What it means
Gubbins is a handy British catch-all for all the random little bits you can't be bothered to list out properly. It's the loose screws, old cables, plastic bits, mystery attachments and drawer-clogging tat that pile up around a house. Friendly, a bit daft, and usually said with a shrug when it's easier to call the whole heap gubbins.
Usage examples
"Just shove all that gubbins in the drawer for now, we will sort it out properly at the weekend."
"The drawer is full of gubbins, old chargers, dead batteries and a single mystery key."
"He sells all sorts of gubbins at the market, half of it useful and half of it gloriously pointless."
"There's a bag of IKEA gubbins under the sink if you need the spare screws."
"I cleared the boot out and found loads of gubbins rolling about from last summer."
Where it comes from
Gubbins has been knocking about in English for centuries, first showing up in older forms as a word for bits, scraps, or odds and ends. It stuck around in British speech as a warm, slightly goofy label for miscellaneous stuff, especially the small cluttery things that never seem important enough to name one by one.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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