Dictionary entry

Babel

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Ba″bel (�), n. [Heb. Bābel, the name of the capital of Babylonia; in Genesis associated with the idea of “confusion.”] 1. The city and tower in the land of Shinar, where the confusion of languages took place.

Therefore is the name of it called Babel.

Gen. xi. 9.

2. Hence: A place or scene of noise and confusion; a confused mixture of sounds, as of voices or languages.

That babel of strange heathen languages.

Hammond.

The grinding babel of the street. R. L. Stevenson.