DABBLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dabble mean? 

• DABBLE (verb)
  The verb DABBLE has 4 senses:

1. dip a foot or hand briefly into a liquid

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

3. work with in an amateurish manner

4. bob forward and under so as to feed off the bottom of a body of water

  Familiarity information: DABBLE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DABBLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they dabble    ... he / she / it dabbles   
Past simple: dabbled   
Past participle: dabbled   
-ing form: dabbling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Dip a foot or hand briefly into a liquid

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "dabble" is one way to...):

dip; douse; dunk; plunge; souse (immerse briefly into a liquid so as to wet, coat, or saturate)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

dabble; paddle; splash around

Hypernyms (to "dabble" is one way to...):

play (be at play; be engaged in playful activity; amuse oneself in a way characteristic of children)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Work with in an amateurish manner

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

dabble; play around; smatter

Context example:

He plays around with investments but he never makes any money

Hypernyms (to "dabble" is one way to...):

busy; occupy (keep busy with)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s VERB-ing

Derivation:

dabbler (an amateur who engages in an activity without serious intentions and who pretends to have knowledge)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Bob forward and under so as to feed off the bottom of a body of water

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

dabbling ducks

Hypernyms (to "dabble" is one way to...):

bob (move up and down repeatedly)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

 Context examples 

At the first shot Dutchy sank upon the table, overturning his mug of coffee, his yellow mop of hair dabbling in his plate of mush.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

To my horror I perceived that the yellow blossoms were all dabbled with crimson.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There were a number of hangers-on and outsiders about the Commons, who, without being proctors themselves, dabbled in common-form business, and got it done by real proctors, who lent their names in consideration of a share in the spoil;—and there were a good many of these too.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Of late I had often recalled this saying and this incident; for during the past week scarcely a night had gone over my couch that had not brought with it a dream of an infant, which I sometimes hushed in my arms, sometimes dandled on my knee, sometimes watched playing with daisies on a lawn, or again, dabbling its hands in running water.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

From what I have heard from him this morning, I gather that he has lost heavily in dabbling with stocks, and that he is ready to do anything on earth to better his fortunes.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Amy had been dabbling her hand in the water during the little pause that fell between them, and when she looked up, Laurie was leaning on his oars with an expression in his eyes that made her say hastily, merely for the sake of saying something...

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The modern masters promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted and that the elixir of life is a chimera but these philosophers, whose hands seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pore over the microscope or crucible, have indeed performed miracles.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)