drib en · VERB · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /ˈdɹɪb/
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
From dialectal English drib (compare also drub), a variant from Middle English drepen (“to hit, strike, slay”), from Old English drepan (“to strike, kill, overcome”), from Proto-Germanic *drepaną (“to hit, strike”).
Meanings
- (transitive) To cut off; chop off.
- (transitive) To cut off little by little; cheat by small and reiterated tricks; purloin.
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(transitive) To entice step by step.
With daily Lies ſhe dribs thee into Coſt; / That Ear-ring dropt a Stone, that Ring is loſt: / They often borrow what they never pay; / What e'er you lend her think it thrown away.
a. 1701, [John] Dryden, “Book I”, in Ovid, Ovid’s Art of Love. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 1709, →OCLC, page 32:
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To appropriate unlawfully; to embezzle.
He who drives their bargains dribs a part.
1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, Charles Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Seventh Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:
- (transitive) To shoot directly at short range.
- (intransitive) To shoot at a mark at short range.
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(transitive) To shoot (a shaft) so as to pierce on the descent.
Not at first sight, nor with a dribbèd shot, / Love gave the wound […]
c. 1580s, Philip Sidney, “Astrophel and Stella”, in [Mary Sidney], editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia […] [The New Arcadia], 3rd edition, London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1598, →OCLC, sonnet 2, page 519:
- (UK, dialectal, transitive) To beat; thrash; drub.
- (UK, dialectal, transitive) To scold.
- (UK, dialectal, qualifier:marbles, transitive) To strike another player's marble when playing from the trigger.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| dribbing | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| dribbed | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| dribbed | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| dribs | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic |