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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

dub.

To confer knighthood; the conclusion of the ceremony was marked by a tap on the shoulder with a sword, the accolade.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/dʌb/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/dɐb/Australia, New-Zealand/dʊb/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. To confer knighthood; the conclusion of the ceremony was marked by a tap on the shoulder with a sword, the accolade.

    transitive
  2. To name, to entitle, to call.

    informal · transitive
  3. To deem.

    transitive
  4. To clothe or invest; to ornament; to adorn.

  5. To strike, rub, or dress smooth; to dab. To dress with an adze.

    to dub a stick of timber smooth
  6. To strike, rub, or dress smooth; to dab. To strike cloth with teasels to raise a nap.

  7. To strike, rub, or dress smooth; to dab. To rub or dress with grease, as leather in the process of currying it.

  8. To strike, rub, or dress smooth; to dab. To dress a fishing fly.

  9. To prepare (a gamecock) for fighting, by trimming the hackles and cutting off the comb and wattles.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English dubben, from Old English dubbian (“to knight by striking with a sword, dub”) from Old French adober (“to equip with arms; adorn”) (also 11th century, Modern French adouber), both from Proto-West Germanic *dubbōn, from Proto-Germanic *dub- (“to hit, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“plug, peg, wedge”). Cognate with Icelandic dubba (in dubba til riddara). Compare also drub for an English reflex of the Germanic word.

verb/dʌb/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/dɐb/Australia, New-Zealand/dʊb/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. To make a noise by brisk drumbeats.

  2. To do something badly.

  3. To execute a shot poorly.

Where this word comes from

1505-1515

noun/dʌb/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/dɐb/Australia, New-Zealand/dʊb/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. A blow, thrust, or poke.

    rare
  2. A poorly executed shot.

Where this word comes from

1505-1515

noun/dʌb/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/dɐb/Australia, New-Zealand/dʊb/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. An unskillful, awkward person.

    historical · slang
Where this word comes from

1885-90. Imitative; see also flub, flubdub.

verb/dʌb/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/dɐb/Australia, New-Zealand/dʊb/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. To add sound to film or change audio on film.

  2. To make a copy from an original or master audio tape.

  3. To replace the original soundtrack of a film with a synchronized translation

  4. To mix audio tracks to produce a new sound; to remix.

Where this word comes from

From a shortening of the word double.

noun/dʌb/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/dɐb/Australia, New-Zealand/dʊb/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. A mostly instrumental remix with all or part of the vocals removed.

    countable
  2. A style of reggae music involving mixing of different audio tracks.

    uncountable
  3. A trend in music starting in 2009, in which bass distortion is synced off timing to electronic dance music.

    uncountable
  4. A piece of graffiti in metallic colour with a thick black outline.

    countable · slang
  5. The replacement of a voice part in a movie or cartoon, particularly with a translation; an instance of dubbing.

    countable
Where this word comes from

From a shortening of the word double.

noun/dʌb/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/dɐb/Australia, New-Zealand/dʊb/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. A pool or puddle.

    UK · dialectal
Where this word comes from

From Celtic; compare Irish dobhar (“water”), Welsh dŵr (“water”).

noun/dʌb/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/dɐb/Australia, New-Zealand/dʊb/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. A twenty-dollar sack of marijuana.

    slang
  2. A wheel rim measuring 20 inches or more.

    slang
Where this word comes from

From shortening of double dime (“twenty”).

verb/dʌb/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/dɐb/Australia, New-Zealand/dʊb/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. To open or close.

    UK · obsolete · transitive
Where this word comes from

From dup (“to open”), from do + up, from Middle English don up (“to open”).

noun/dʌb/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/dɐb/Australia, New-Zealand/dʊb/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. A lock.

    UK · obsolete
  2. A key, especially a master key; a lock pick.

    UK · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From dup (“to open”), from do + up, from Middle English don up (“to open”).

noun/dʌb/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/dɐb/Australia, New-Zealand/dʊb/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. Clipping of double-u.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping
  2. Clipping of double-u. A win.

    Internet
    I haven't had a dub in a few games.
noun/dʌb/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/dɐb/Australia, New-Zealand/dʊb/Ireland, Northern-England
  1. A small copper coin once used in India.

    India · historical
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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.