dab

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

• I dabbed my face with a towel.
• Dab the tears from your eyes.

To apply a substance in this way.transitive

• The nurse will dab some ointment on that gash.

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

To apply hash oil to a heated surface for the purpose of efficient combustion.slang

To perform the dab dance move; to move both arms, parallel with one's head, to either side of the body.intransitive

• Look, my bruddas don't dab, we just vossi bop

Synonym of daub (to mark a bingo card)

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

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

A soft, playful box given in greeting or approval.

• 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.”
• The men gave each other dabs and another bear hug.

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.slang

Fingerprint.UKdatedin-plural

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

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.obsolete

With a dab, or sudden contact.not-comparable

One who is skilful or proficient; an expert; an adept.

• for little Urchin as he is, he‘s ſuch a Dab at his Bow and Arrows‘ that ne‘re a Finsbury Archer of ‘em all can pretend to come near him.
• Dab, c. expert exquiſite in Roguery a Rumdab, c. a very Dextrous fellow at fileing , thieving, Cheating, Sharping, sc. Heii a Dab at it, He is well vers'd in it.

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

A sand dab, a small flatfish of genus Citharichthys.US

Bad.obsolete

• 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, "
• 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 sa