dibble

1. 1

   A pointed implement used to make holes in the ground in which to set out plants or to plant seeds.

   • Pol[ixenes] Then make you[r] Garden rich in Gilly'vors, / And do not call them baſtards. / Per[dita] Ile not put / The Dible in earth, to ſet one ſlip of them: […]
   • Earth'd up, here lies an imp o' hell, / Planted by Satan's dibble— / Poor silly wretch, he's damned himsel', / To save the Lord the trouble.

1. 1

   To make holes or plant seeds using, or as if using, a dibble.transitive

   • It was Digory who had the bright idea of eating four each and planting the ninth; for, as he said, "if the bar off the lamp-post turned into a little light-tree, why shouldn’t this turn into a toffee-tree?" So they dibbled a small hole in t
2. 2

   To use a dibble; to make holes in the soil.intransitive

   • I would as soon be gored by my ain bull that gangs on Dalmakittenleys, as have ill luck, and sorrow, and mischance, drilled and dibbled into my frail body by the spiteful een of an auld hag.
3. 3

   To dib or dip frequently, as in angling.intransitive

   • And neere to them ye see the lesser dibling Teale

1. 1

   A police officer, especially one serving with Greater Manchester Police.UKcountableslang

   • Remember this story about police hunting a metal detector enthusiast suspected of digging 20 holes in a school playing field in Cornwall? It’s taken a rather unusual twist. Pop superstar Robbie Williams appears to have ’fessed up to the cri
2. 2

   Preceded by the: the police.UKslanguncountable

   • Watch out, lads! Here comes the dibble!

syn. police