dab.
To press lightly in a repetitive motion with a soft object without rubbing.
Meaning & usage
To press lightly in a repetitive motion with a soft object without rubbing.
I dabbed my face with a towel.
Dab the tears from your eyes.
To apply a substance in this way.
The nurse will dab some ointment on that gash.
To strike by a thrust; to hit with a sudden blow or thrust.
To apply hash oil to a heated surface for the purpose of efficient combustion.
To perform the dab dance move; to move both arms, parallel with one's head, to either side of the body.
Synonym of daub (to mark a bingo card)
Where this word comes from
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”).
A soft tap or blow; a blow or peck from a bird's beak; an aimed blow.
A soft, playful box given in greeting or approval.
A small amount, a blob of some soft or wet substance.
a dab of glue
A small amount, a blob of some soft or wet substance. A small amount of hash oil.
Fingerprint.
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.
A dabbler.
Where this word comes from
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”).
With a dab, or sudden contact.
Where this word comes from
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”).
One who is skilful or proficient; an expert; an adept.
Where this word comes from
Unknown. First use in print was in 1691, in The Athenian Mercury; it is also found in the Dictionary of the Canting Crew of 1698; see quotations for both. Originally used in the cant of criminals, and later in school slang. It may be a profound alteration of adept, likely from deliberate slangy usage thereof (rather than natural sound-change), which if true would give such earlier forms as *adep (or *dept) > *dep > *deb.
A small flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae, especially Limanda limanda; a flounder.
A sand dab, a small flatfish of genus Citharichthys.
Where this word comes from
Late Middle English dabbe, of unknown origin; perhaps related to sense 1 (“to press against lightly”) as in "a soft mass dabbed down."
Bad.
Where this word comes from
Back slang for bad.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.