dab

See also: Appendix:Variations of "dab"

English

Performing the dab dance move

Dabbing hash oil

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dæb/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æb

Etymology 1

From Middle English dabben (“to strike”), probably of North Germanic origin, related to Old Icelandic dabba (“to tap, slap”), perhaps ultimately imitative. Compare also with Middle Dutch dabben (“to pinch, knead, fumble, dabble”) (Dutch dabben (“(of a horse) to stamp with the forelegs”)), Dutch deppen (“to dab”), possibly German tappen (“to fumble, grope”).

The noun is from Middle English dabbe (“a strike, blow”), from the verb. Related to tap. Compare also drub, dub.

African-American sense of “playful box” perhaps influenced by dap (“fistbump”).

Verb

dab (third-person singular simple present dabs, present participle dabbing, simple past and past participle dabbed)

1. (transitive) To press lightly in a repetitive motion with a soft object without rubbing.

   I dabbed my face with a towel.

2. (transitive) To apply a substance in this way.

   He dabbed moisturizing liquid on his face.

3. To strike by a thrust; to hit with a sudden blow or thrust.
   • 1532-1533, Thomas More, The Confutation of Tyndale's Answer

     to dabbe him in the necke

4. (slang) To apply hash oil to a heated surface for the purpose of efficient combustion.
5. (dance, intransitive) To perform the dab dance move, by moving both arms to one side of the body parallel with your head.
   • 2019, Stormzy, Vossi Bop:

     Look, my brothas don't dab, we just vossi bop

6. (bingo) Synonym of daub (to mark a bingo card)

Derived terms

• dab out
• dab up
• vab

 

Translations

softly tap

• Bulgarian: потупвам (bg) (potupvam)
• Czech: klepat impf, poklepat pf, poťukat pf, ťuknout pf
• Esperanto: tapeti
• French: tapoter (fr), tamponner (fr)
• German: tupfen (de)
• Mandarin: 輕觸／轻触 (zh)

apply softly tapping

• Bulgarian: цапвам (bg) (capvam), мацвам (bg) (macvam)
• Czech: jemně nanést pf
• German: auftupfen
• Mandarin: 敷 (zh) (fū)
• Ukrainian: примо́чувати impf (prymóčuvaty), примочи́ти pf (prymočýty)

perform the dance move

• Dutch: dabben (nl)
• French: dabber (fr)

Noun

A dab of hash oil

dab (plural dabs)

1. A soft tap or blow; a blow or peck from a bird's beak; an aimed blow.

   Synonyms: bump, pat, spat, tit

   • 1865, Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend‎^[1]:

     I promise you nothing,' said the dolls' dressmaker, dabbing two dabs at him with her needle, as if she put out both his eyes.

   • 1917, Robert Hichens, In the Wilderness‎^[2]:

     Then the minute feet made feeble dabs, or stabs, at the atmosphere; the tiny fists doubled themselves and wandered to and fro as if in search of the enemy.

2. (African-American Vernacular) A soft, playful box given in greeting or approval.

   Coordinate terms: dap, fist bump, high five

   • 2006, Greta X, Angela Pearson, Whipsdom‎^[3], page 75:

     She gave a few more dabs to his buttocks. “There. By the time you've made love to me those weals will have dried up.”

   • 2010, Adrianne Byrd, Body Heat‎^[4], page 177:

     The men gave each other dabs and another bear hug.

   • 2010, De'nesha Diamond, Hustlin' Divas‎^[5], page 197:

     I step closer to Profit and draw in a deep, steadying breath while the brothers exchange dabs. “What's up, fam? I see you finally made it.”

3. A small amount, a blob of some soft or wet substance.

   Synonyms: blob; see also Thesaurus:modicum

   a dab of glue

   1. (slang) A small amount of hash oil.
4. (chiefly in the plural, dated, British) Fingerprint.
   • 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 132:

     One had Glash's dabs on it and a half-inch of Macallan at the bottom.

5. (dance) A hip hop dance move in which the dancer simultaneously drops the head while raising an arm, briefly resting their face in the elbow, as if sneezing into their elbow.
6. (obsolete) A dabbler.

   Synonyms: amateur, dilettante

Derived terms

• dab pen
• poor dab
• smack-dab

Related terms

• dap
• dob
• tap

Descendants

• Irish: daba

Translations

soft tap

• Bulgarian: потупване n (potupvane)
• Czech: ťuknutí n
• Finnish: nokare (fi)
• German: Taps m
• Greek: άγγιγμα (el) (ángigma)
• Swedish: dutta (sv)

small amount, blob

• Bulgarian: мазка f (mazka)
• Czech: kapka (cs) f, trošička f, drobet (cs) m, troška (cs) f, krapet
• Finnish: tippa (fi)
• German: Klacks (de) m, Klecks (de) m
• Greek: μικροποσότητα (el) f (mikroposótita)
• Irish: daba m
• Swedish: klick (sv) c

fingerprint — see fingerprint

Adverb

dab (not comparable)

1. With a dab, or sudden contact.

Translations

with a dab

See also

• daub

Etymology 2

Perhaps corrupted from adept.

Noun

dab (plural dabs)

1. One skilful or proficient; an expert; an adept.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:skilled person

   • c. 1759-1770?, Oliver Goldsmith, Essay

     One excels at a plan or the title page, another works away at the body of the book, and the third is a dab at an index.

   • 1791-92, Jane Austen, ‘A Collection of Letters’, Juvenilia:

     Indeed I had always heard what a dab he was at a Love-letter.

Derived terms

• dab hand
• dab-handed
• dabster

Translations

one skilful or proficient, an expert, an adept

• Bulgarian: майстор (bg) m (majstor), специалист (bg) m (specialist)
• Greek: μάστορας (el) m (mástoras)
• Mandarin: 高手 (zh) (gāoshǒu)
• Swedish: baddare (sv) c

Etymology 3

Late Middle English dabbe, of unknown origin; perhaps related to sense 1 (“to press against lightly”) as in "a soft mass dabbed down."

Noun

dab (plural dabs)

2. A small flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae, especially Limanda limanda; a flounder.
3. (US) A sand dab, a small flatfish of genus Citharichthys.

Descendants

• → Irish: daba

Translations

flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae

• Bulgarian: писия (bg) f (pisija)
• Catalan: limanda (ca) f
• Faroese: áarskrubba f
• Galician: mendo (gl) m
• Greek: λιμάνδη η κοινή f (limándi i koiní)
• Irish: daba m
• Mandarin: 比目魚／比目鱼 (zh) (bǐmùyú), 黃蓋鰈／黄盖鲽 (zh)
• Norman: cat m
• Scots: sautie

Etymology 4

Back slang for bad.

Adjective

dab (comparative more dab, superlative most dab)

1. (obsolete, costermongers) Bad.

   Synonym: trosseno

   Antonyms: doog, doogheno

   • 1851, Henry Mayhew, “Habits and Amusements of Costermongers”, in London Labour and the London Poor‎^[6], volume 1, page 11:

     Business topics are discussed in a most peculiar style. One man takes the pipe from his mouth and says, "Bill made a doogheno hit this morning." "Jem," says another, to a man just entering, "you'll stand a top o' reeb?" "On," answers Jem, "I've had a trosseno tol, and have been doing dab."

   • 2012, Anthony Quinn, The Streets, →ISBN, page 33:

     One afternoon, arriving at his stall later than usual, I said, almost unknowingly, 'A doogheno or a dabheno?' Jo, who had often chaffed me for my awkward mimicking of coster language, didn't even look up from peeling his apple. 'Dab,' he said, with a little shake of his head.

Further reading

• dab on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• dab (dance) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Oxford English Dictionary (1989)
• “dab”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

See also

• dabchick (etymologically relation unclear)

Anagrams

• ABD, ADB, Abd., BDA, D.B.A., DBA, abd., bad, d/b/a, dba

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English dab.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛp/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dab
• Rhymes: -ɛp

Noun

dab m (uncountable)

1. (dance) the dab (hip-hop dance move)

Related terms

• dabben

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈdap̚]
• Hyphenation: dab

Etymology 1

From English dub, a shortening of the word double.

Noun

dab (first-person possessive dabku, second-person possessive dabmu, third-person possessive dabnya)

1. dub: the replacement of a voice part in a movie or cartoon, particularly with a translation; an instance of dubbing.

Derived terms

• mengedab
• pengedaban

 

Etymology 2

From Arabic ضَبّ (ḍabb), from Proto-Semitic *ṣ́abb-.

Noun

dab (first-person possessive dabku, second-person possessive dabmu, third-person possessive dabnya)

1. dabb lizard, Egyptian mastigure, Egyptian spiny-tailed lizard, Leptien's mastigure, Egyptian uromastyx, or Egyptian dabb lizard (Uromastyx aegyptia).

   Synonym: kadal gurun

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

dab (first-person possessive dabku, second-person possessive dabmu, third-person possessive dabnya)

1. a kind of mat measuring approximately 2 m, made of woven pandan leaves that are connected by stitching

Further reading

• “dab” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Maltese

Root
d-w-b
10 terms

Alternative forms

• dieb

Etymology

From Arabic ذَابَ (ḏāba).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /daːp/

Verb

dab (imperfect jdub, verbal noun dewbien or dwib or dwieb) (intransitive)

1. to melt (become liquid, especially through warmth)
2. to disappear
3. to become emaciated
4. to show tender feelings

Conjugation

Conjugation of dab
		singular				plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person
perfect	m	dobt	dobt	dab		dobna	dobtu	dabu
	f			dabet
imperfect	m	ndub	ddub	jdub		ndubu	ddubu	jdubu
	f			ddub
imperative			dub				dubu

Somali

Noun

dab m

1. fire
2. firearm

Verb

dab

1. to trap
2. to ensnare

References

• Abdirahman Abdillahi Farah "Barwaago" (1995) “dab”, in A Modern Somali-English Dictionary, Ottawa: Ottawa Catholic School Board, →ISBN, page 89
• Puglielli, Annarita, Mansuur, Cabdalla Cumar (2012) “dab”, in Qaamuuska Af-Soomaliga‎^[7], Rome: RomaTrE-Press, →ISBN, page 167

Sumerian

Romanization

dab

1. Romanization of 𒁳 (dab)

White Hmong

FWOTD – 22 February 2015

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /da˥/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *qlaŋ (“neck”); related to Old Chinese 頸 (OC *keŋʔ, *ɡeŋ, “neck”).

Noun

dab

1. (in compounds) neck or other narrow object

Derived terms

• caj dab (“neck”)
• dab taws (“ankle”)
• dab teg (“wrist”)

 

Etymology 2

From Proto-Hmong *qraŋᴬ (“spirit, ghost”).

Noun

dab

1. (evil) spirit, considered responsible for epileptic attacks among other things
2. demon
3. monster

Derived terms

• dab tsuam
• qaug dab peg

 

Etymology 3

From Proto-Hmong *qroŋᴬ (“trough”).

Noun

dab (classifier: lub)

1. a trough, a hollowed out length of log etc.

Derived terms

• dab dej (“a trough for holding water”)
• dab nees (“a horse feeding trough”)
• dab npua (“a trough for pig food”)
• dab zaub (“a trough for putting vegetable greens in”)

 

References

• Heimbach, Ernest E. (1979) White Hmong — English Dictionary‎^[8], SEAP Publications, →ISBN, pages 28-9.

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English dabbe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dab/

Noun

dab

1. dash, slap
   • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 5, page 96:

     To his sweethearth, an smack lick a dab of a brough.

     To his sweetheart, and smacked like a slap of a shoe.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 33