Link Centre Dictionary

dabble

US/ˈdæb.əl/ uncommon obsolete

verb

1.

dip a foot or hand briefly into a liquid

2.

play in or as if in water, as of small children

Synonyms
3.

work with in a non-serious manner

  • “She dabbles in astronomy”
  • “He plays around with investments bu he never makes any money”
Synonyms

Origin

From earlier dable, equivalent to dab + -le (frequentative suffix), possibly from Middle Dutch dabbelen (“to pinch; knead; to fumble; to dabble”); cognate with Icelandic dafla (“to dabble”).

Phrases

  • dabbling duck Expressions
  • double dabble

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.