What it means
Gubbins is a very British catch-all for all the little random bits you can't be arsed naming one by one. It's the loose screws, old cables, mystery attachments, plastic odds and bobs, and all that drawer-filling tat that somehow never gets chucked out. It's warm, slightly daft, and usually said with a shrug when the pile matters more than the inventory.
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 around in English since at least the 16th century, where it turned up for scraps, bits, or fish offal and other odds and ends. Over time it softened into a cosy British word for miscellaneous stuff, especially the small cluttery bits you recognise on sight but never bother naming properly.
