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Is there a word for "to talk excitedly about something"? I'm sure there's a word for that. But Thesaurus.com didn't give me the answer.

Example sentence:

Mary took John to the place where they sold the banana splits she'd been ______ for the past few days.

8 Answers 8

14

How about rave? From M-W,

Definition of rave
raved; raving
intransitive verb
1 c : to talk with extreme enthusiasm • raved about its beauty

Using the given example,

Mary took John to the place where they sold the banana splits she'd been raving about for the past few days.

Though I believe rave suggests that she's already tried it and now she wants to show John that it's great.

A somewhat informal alternative is hype. From Dictionary.com,

hype
verb (used with object), hyped, hyping.
2. to create interest in by flamboyant or dramatic methods; promote or publicize showily:

Using the example,

Mary took John to the place where they sold the banana splits she'd been hyping for the past few days.

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  • 2
    I second "...she'd been raving about for...". Good note that it suggests that Mary has already tried it.
    – Eric Dand
    Mar 17, 2017 at 2:31
8
gush
ɡʌʃ/
verb
    2. Speak or write effusively or with exaggerated enthusiasm.

Mary took John to the place where they sold the banana splits she'd been gushing over for the past few days.

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  • This is the first one I thought of, too.
    – user32753
    Mar 17, 2017 at 14:31
  • This seems like an older expression, as I've never heard anyone in my age group (18-28) say this. Mar 17, 2017 at 17:11
  • The frequency of usage in print of "gushing over" and "gushing about" has remained roughly constant in the last 100 years, with a low around 1980 and increasing since. Take from that what you will.
    – Sam
    Mar 18, 2017 at 8:42
5

The first word that sprang to mind, on seeing the title, was

jabber verb [NO OBJECT]

Talk in a rapid, excited, and often incomprehensible way.
‘he jabbered on about football’

noun

Rapid, excited, and often incomprehensible speech.

Source https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/jabber

4

How about enthuse

Express eager enjoyment, interest, or approval regarding something.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/enthuse

Example:

Mary took John to the place where they sold the banana splits she'd been enthusing about for the past few days

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  • This was my first thought on seeing the question title.
    – Wildcard
    Mar 18, 2017 at 2:05
3

You can say ".........she'd been raving about.......". Enthusing about is also possible.

0

My first thought was blather.

to talk foolishly at length —often used with on

So

Mary took John to the place where they sold the banana splits she'd been blathering on about for the past few days.

0

To bubble.

Mary took John to the place where they sold the banana splits she'd been bubbling about for the past few days.

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Extolling?

To bless, carol, celebrate, emblazon, exalt, glorify, hymn, laud, magnify, praise, resound

Does change depending on how Mary feels about her own enthusiasm. Jabbering, going on about, blithering etc implies she's aware it's annoying. Or more something that John might say about her mentioning it so much. Raving is more neutral or enthusiastic. And something like extolling feels quite character dependent, if she's that sort of person...

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