dab

See also: DAB, dåb, dąb, and -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[1]. 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)

(transitive) To press lightly in a repetitive motion with a soft object without rubbing.
I dabbed my face with a towel.
(transitive) To apply a substance in this way.
He dabbed moisturizing liquid on his face.
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
(slang) To apply hash oil to a heated surface for the purpose of efficient combustion.
(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

Translations

softly tap

Bulgarian: потупвам (bg) (potupvam)
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)
German: auftupfen
Mandarin: 敷 (zh)
Ukrainian: примо́чувати impf (prymóčuvaty), примочи́ти pf (prymočýty)

perform the dance move

French: dabber (fr)

Noun

Hash oil, aka dab.

dab (plural dabs)

A soft tap or blow; a blow or peck from a bird's beak; an aimed blow.
- 1865, Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend:
  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:
  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.
(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, 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, page 177:
  The men gave each other dabs and another bear hug.
- 2010, De'nesha Diamond, Hustlin' Divas, page 220:
  Python snickers while he gives Rufus dabs. “Do you,nigga. Do you.” That shit just makes Rufus's lips stretch wider. “You see this, Peaches? This is like the Good Housekeeping seal of approval right here.”
  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.”
A small amount, a blob of some soft or wet substance.
Synonym: blob
a dab of glue
1. (slang) A small amount of hash oil.
(chiefly in the plural, dated, Britain) Fingerprint.
(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.
(obsolete) A dabbler.

Derived terms

poor dab
smack-dab

Related terms

dap
dob
tap

Descendants

Irish: daba

Translations

soft tap

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

small amount, blob

Bulgarian: мазка f (mazka)
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)

With a dab, or sudden contact.

Translations

with a dab

Etymology 2

Perhaps corrupted from adept.

Noun

dab (plural dabs)

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)
Swedish: baddare (sv) c
Westrobothnian: deotar m

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."[2]

Noun

dab (plural dabs)

A small flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae, especially Limanda limanda; a flounder.
(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), 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)

(obsolete, costermongers) Bad.
Synonym: trosseno
Antonyms: doog, doogheno
- 1851, Mayhew, Henry, “Habits and Amusements of Costermongers”, in London Labour and the London Poor‎, 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, Quinn, Anthony, 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.

References

Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “dab”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Skeat, W. W. (2013). An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. United States: Dover Publications, p. 152

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)

(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)

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)

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)

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

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)

to melt (become liquid, especially through warmth)
to disappear
to become emaciated
to show tender feelings

Conjugation

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

Sumerian

Romanization

dab

Romanization of 𒁳 (dab)

White Hmong

FWOTD – 22 February 2015

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /da˥/

Noun

dab

(evil) spirit, considered responsible for epileptic attacks among other things

Derived terms

qaug dab peg
dab tsuam

References

Ernest E. Heimbach, White Hmong - English Dictionary (1979, SEAP Publications)

Yola

Alternative forms

dap

Etymology

From Middle English dabben.

Noun

dab

dash, slap.
touch, tap.

References

Jacob Poole (1867), 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, page 33

[1] Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “dab”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

[2] Skeat, W. W. (2013). An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. United States: Dover Publications, p. 152

dab

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Verb

Translations

Noun

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

Translations

Adverb

Translations

See also

Etymology 2

Noun

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

Noun

Descendants

Translations

Etymology 4

Adjective

References

Further reading

Anagrams

Dutch

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Related terms

Indonesian

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Noun

Etymology 3

Noun

Further reading

Maltese

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronunciation

Verb

Conjugation

Sumerian

Romanization

White Hmong

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

References

Yola

Alternative forms

Etymology

Noun

References