dab
part of speech
verb (dab, dabs, dabbed, dabbing); noun (a dab, dabs); adjective (a dab hand — UK informal)
meaning for a pupil
1) (verb) To touch something lightly and quickly several times, often with a cloth or sponge: «dab your eyes». tree →
2) (verb) To put on a small amount of something with light touches: «dab paint on the paper». tree →
3) (noun) A small amount of something: «a dab of glue». tree →
4) (noun) A light, quick touch. tree →
5) (noun, informal) A dance move where you drop your head into the bent arm while the other arm points out. tree →
6) (UK informal) «a dab hand at» — very good at something. tree →
7) (noun) A small flat sea fish. tree →
8) Dabs (UK slang, old) fingerprints. tree →
sense in the lessons
In art lessons, children dab paint with sponges to make textures; in first aid, you dab a cut gently with a clean cloth, not rub it. In cooking, «a dab of butter». In the playground, «doing the dab» was a popular dance move. Phrases: «a dab of», «dab at», «dab on», «a dab hand at».
examples
- Dab the cut gently with a clean tissue. tree →
- She dabbed her eyes with a hanky at the end of the film. tree →
- Dab blue paint on with a sponge to make the sky. tree →
- Put a dab of glue on each corner. tree →
- Add a dab of butter to the hot potatoes. tree →
- The footballer did a dab to celebrate his goal. tree →
- Grandma is a dab hand at knitting. tree →
- We caught a little dab off the pier. tree →
- Very funny the palace must have looked each morning, with the dabs of different colour on the white marble as the princes were climbing up the walls. tree →
note
Regular verb with a doubled B: dabbed, dabbing. To dab is gentler than to rub or wipe. «Dab hand» is British, informal. «Dab» (fish) is a flatfish. Do not confuse «dab» with «dub» (to give a name, or to add voices to a film).
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «dab» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.