different between drabble vs dribble

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?æb?l/
• Rhymes: -æb?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English drabelan

Verb

drabble (third-person singular simple present drabbles, present participle drabbling, simple past and past participle drabbled)

1. (transitive) To wet or dirty, especially by dragging through mud.
2. (intransitive) To fish with a long line and rod.

   to drabble for barbels

Etymology 2

From a word game in Monty Python's Big Red Book in which the first player to write a novel wins; the UK Science Fiction fandom agreed that 100 words will suffice; not, as is sometimes stated, from the surname of the author Margaret Drabble.

Noun

drabble (plural drabbles)

1. A short fictional story, typically in fan fiction, sometimes exactly 100 words long.

Usage notes

The "100 words" limit is the original meaning, although in practice (and drabble purists have denounced this extension), it frequently extends up to around 500 words, with a variety of limits used.

Synonyms

• flash fiction, flashfic, microfiction, short short story, spamfic, sudden fiction

Further reading

• An example of a German language drabble

See also

• “drabble” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “drabble”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).

Anagrams

• barbled, dabbler, rabbled

English

Etymology

drib +? -le (early modern English frequentative suffix)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?d??.b?l/, /d??.bl?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?d??.b??/, /?d??.b(?)l/
• Rhymes: -?b?l

Verb

dribble (third-person singular simple present dribbles, present participle dribbling, simple past and past participle dribbled)

1. (basketball, soccer) In various ball games, to move (with) the ball, controlling its path by kicking or bouncing it repeatedly
2. To let saliva drip from the mouth, to drool
3. To fall in drops or an unsteady stream, to trickle
4. (transitive) To let something fall in drips.
   • 1731, Jonathan Swift, Directions to Servants

     let her [the cook] follow him softly with a ladle full, and dribble it all the way up stairs to the dining-room

5. (dated) To live or pass one's time in a trivial fashion.
6. To perform a card flourish in which the cards fall smoothly from one's hand.

Descendants

• ? Czech: driblovat
• ? French: dribbler

Translations

Noun

dribble (countable and uncountable, plural dribbles)

1. (uncountable) Drool; saliva.
2. (countable) A weak, unsteady stream; a trickle.
3. (countable) A small amount of a liquid.
4. (countable, sports) The act of moving (with) a ball by kicking or bouncing it.
5. (countable) A card flourish in which the cards fall smoothly from one's hand.

Translations

Related terms

• crossover dribble
• double dribble
• dribble glass
• dribble penetration
• dribbly
• kill one's dribble

Anagrams

• dibbler

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English dribble.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?ibl/

Noun

dribble m (plural dribbles)

1. (sports) dribble

Verb

dribble

1. first-person singular present indicative of dribbler
2. third-person singular present indicative of dribbler
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of dribbler
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of dribbler
5. second-person singular imperative of dribbler

German

Verb

dribble

1. inflection of dribbeln:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. singular imperative
   3. first/third-person singular subjunctive I