different between dibbly vs dibble

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?d?b(?)l/
• Rhymes: -?b?l
• Hyphenation: dib?ble

Etymology 1

Possibly dib (“to dab lightly”) +? -le (“frequentative suffix indicating repetition or continuousness”); however, the word dibble is attested earlier than dib.

Noun

dibble (plural dibbles)

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

Synonyms

• dib
• dibber

Translations

Verb

dibble (third-person singular simple present dibbles, present participle dibbling, simple past and past participle dibbled)

1. (transitive) To make holes or plant seeds using, or as if using, a dibble.
   • 1955, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, chapter 12, in The Magician's Nephew (The Chronicles of Narnia; 1), London: The Bodley Head, ?OCLC; republished London: Collins, 1998, ?ISBN:

     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 the turf and buried the piece of toffee.

2. (intransitive) To use a dibble; to make holes in the soil.
3. (intransitive) To dib or dip frequently, as in angling.
   • 1622, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion song 25 p. 106[1]:

     And neere to them ye see the lesser dibling Teale

Related terms

• dibber
• dibbly
• dibbly-dobbler

Etymology 2

From the character of Officer Charlie Dibble, a New York Police Department officer, in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Top Cat (first broadcast in the US in 1961, and in the UK in 1962 under the title Boss Cat).

Noun

dibble (countable and uncountable, plural dibbles)

1. (slang, Britain, originally Manchester, countable) A police officer.
2. (slang, Britain, originally Manchester, uncountable) Preceded by the: the police.

Synonyms

• (a police officer): See Thesaurus:police officer
• (the police): See Thesaurus:police

Further reading

• dibble on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• debbil, libbed