Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GOS'SIP, n. [Sax. godsibb; god, good, and sib or sibb, peace, adoption and relation; a Saxon name of a sponsor at baptism.]

1. A sponsor; one who answers for a child in baptism; a godfather. [Obs.] Shak. Davies.
2. A tippling companion. And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl. Shak.
3. One who runs from house to house, tattling and telling news; an idle tattler. Dryden. [This is the sense in which the word is now used.]
4. A friend or neighbor. [Obs.]
5. Mere tattle; idle talk.