Category:Dab

Dab, n. Etym: [Perh. corrupted fr. adept.]

Defn: A skillful hand; a dabster; an expert. [Colloq.] One excels at a plan or the titlepage, another works away at the body of the book, and the therd is a dab at an index. Goldsmith.

dab Dab, n. Etym: [Perh. so named from its quickness in diving beneath the sand. Cf. Dabchick.] (Zoöl.)

Defn: A name given to several species of Pleuronectes. TheAmerican rough dab is Hippoglossoides platessoides.

dab Dab, v. i. [imp. & p.p. Dabbed; p.pr.& vb.n. Dabbing.] Etym: [OE. dabben to strice; akin to OD. dabben to pinch, knead, fumble, dabble, and perh. to G. tappen to grope.]

1. To strike or touch gently, as with a soft or moist substance; to tap; hence, to besmear with a dabber. A sore should. . . be wiped. . . only by dabbing it over with fine lint. S. Sharp.

2. To strike by a thrust; to hit with a sudden blow or thrust. "To dab him in the neck." Sir T. More.

dab Dab, n.

1. A gentle blow with the hand or some soft substance; a sudden blow or hit; a peck. Astratch of her clame, a dab of her beack. Hawthorne.

2. A small mass of anything soft or moist.