Dabble

Definitions

1. A spattering or sprinkling of a liquid.
2. An act of splashing in soft mud, water, etc.
3. An act of participation in an activity in a casual or superficial way.

Equivalents

12 more languages

العربيةبلل

Българскипляскампръскам

Češtinacákatfušovatpocákat

Suomiharrastellakastellakostuttaapärskiäpärskyttääpuuhastella+ 3 more

Magyar-gat-get-kedik-kodik+ 1 more

Italianodilettarsioccuparsi a tempo persosguazzare

日本語ばちゃばちゃさせる

Nederlandsals liefhebberij hebbendompelengrondelenliefhebberenspetteren+ 2 more

Polskibabraćubabraćzbabrać

Portuguêsumedecer

Русскийзанима́ться пове́рхностнокорми́ться со днаплескаться

Türkçesıçratmaktakılmak

Examples

“Sir W. Rose has works that bear⟳ painful evidence of failing health; indeed, his group of the Duc et Duchesse d'Aumale (705), with the Prince de Condé and the Duc de Guise, is quite unfinished and even blotted. The face⟳ of the Duke is refined, but weak; the colour is pale, and the background only a dabble of unarranged and undrilled touches.”

“And then methought my dream⟳ changed, and two Great Giants with heading-axes came striding over the bed, […] And I woke up with my hair all in a dabble with the night-dews, with my Grandmother's voice ringing in my ears, "Remember⟳ the Thirtieth of January!"”

“Opening the scullery door, I heard a slight scuffle. Then I saw⟳ dabbles of milk all over the floor and tiny rabbit-droppings in the saucers. And there the miscreant, the tips of his ears showing behind a pair of boots. I peeped at him. He sat bright-eyed and askance, twitching his nose and looking at me while not looking at me.”

“The lighting in the corridor just dabbles of arcs, afterthoughts, smears. The light⟳ a grime that gives him a slight headache. The same type⟳ as when it has rained, remained humid, a fetid stale of ozone over everything.”

“Happily, however, he [the gnat] is born a swimmer and can take⟳ his pleasure in his native element, poising himself near its surface head downwards, tail upwards. Why chooses he this strange position? Just for the same reason⟳ that we rather prefer⟳, when taking a dabble in the waves, to have⟳ our heads above water, for the convenience, namely, of receiving a due supply⟳ of air, which the little swimmer in question⟳ sucks in through a sort⟳ of tube in his tail.”

“After a dabble in a teaspoonful of water, and a scrape with a bit of an old sack, in a box, which is dignified with the title of "wash⟳ room"—for the American cars are, as it were, moveable hotels, with every accommodation complete⟳ (including what, I think⟳, from a sanitary point⟳ of view⟳, had very much better not be there), I took a walk⟳ up and down the train⟳, with the rest⟳ of my fellow-passengers, and thereby improved my appetite for the breakfast which we were to take⟳ at a station down the road.”

“[…] I was induced to quit⟳ Leeds ſooner than uſual, as the concourſe of company which would aſſemble on that occaſion was expected to be very numerous and productive, and of courſe I could not idly let⟳ ſlip ſuch a lucrative proſpect but muſt have⟳ a dabble for the loaves and fiſhes.”

“From the separate⟳ little tracts and fragments which we have⟳ last⟳ noticed, (as well as the greater works, which contain⟳ a fuller development of his views on this subject,) it appears he slighted what has been termed Natural Theology. He was content with the Bible, without which Natural Theology is a dabble of inconclusive presumptions, and in connexion with which, however pleasing as a speculative inquiry, useless as a canon of faith, or a rule⟳ of life.”

“A dabble in the stocks does not always turn⟳ out profitably; cotton is sometimes heavy on our hands, and real estate will sulkily retrograde, when, by the calculation, it ought to have⟳ advanced.”

CEFR level