gubbins
/ˈɡʌbɪnz
/plural noun [treated as singular or plural] British informal
1Miscellaneous items; paraphernalia: all the latest films, books, and electronic gubbins...
- It requires committee rooms, meeting places, back office space, support teams, information technology and all the rest of the gubbins.
- It either makes the vehicle heavier through the extra gubbins you have to put on it, or measures to improve the burn quality of the engine end up with you burning more oil to run that engine.
- Having then been working on CSS gubbins all day, my brain is not strictly with it.
1.1 [treated as singular] A gadget: a little gubbins he had made as a boy...
- For anyone else who's interested (this means you, Gordon), the new ADSL modem and wireless networking gubbins are now all in place.
- Throttle response seems completely unaffected by the forced induction gubbins, no doubt a result of keeping the intake tract short and with as little internal air volume as feasible.
- There are no buttons to push if you get stuck in mud, no transfer box or locking differentials, no gubbins to keep you moving when nature would rather you didn't.
Origin
Mid 16th century (in the sense 'fragments'): from obsolete gobbon 'piece, slice, gob', from Old French; probably related to gobbet. Current senses date from the early 20th century.