Meaning of Dibble | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A pointed implement used to make holes in the ground in which to set out plants or to plant seeds.
2. A police officer, especially one serving with Greater Manchester Police.
   British, countable, slang
3. A surname originating as a patronymic.
4. Preceded by the: the police.
   British, slang, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Pol[ixenes] Then make⟳ you[r] Garden rich in Gilly'vors, / And do not call⟳ them baſtards. / Per[dita] Ile not put⟳ / The Dible in earth, to ſet one ſlip of them: […]”

“Earth'd up, here lies an imp o' hell, / Planted by Satan's dibble— / Poor silly wretch, he's damned himsel', / To save⟳ the Lord the trouble⟳.”

“In sowing time ne'er would I dibble take⟳, / Or drop a seed, till thou wast wide awake⟳; […]”

“Remember⟳ this story about police hunting a metal detector enthusiast suspected of digging 20 holes in a school playing field in Cornwall? It’s taken a rather unusual twist⟳. Pop superstar Robbie Williams appears to have⟳ ’fessed up to the crime. The former Take⟳ That star, who is a keen metal detecting enthusiast, retweeted the West Briton newspaper’s version of the story, telling ‘Dibble’ – a Mancunian slang term for the police which comes from the character Officer Dibble in the cartoon Top Cat – to ‘do one’, vowing the police will never catch⟳ him alive.”

“Watch⟳ out, lads! Here comes the dibble!”

“In Moss Side they called the police Dibble, after Officer Dibble in the cartoon Top Cat, so the name⟳ had sprung from that.”

“Bein' in the dibble [police] is no cakewalk when you're black. / If you don't get⟳ fitted, then you'll prob'ly get⟳ the sack.”

“They shoved me in the back of a police van and started driving to the cop shop⟳. I was sitting in the sweatbox, wondering how the Dibble had got onto me so quickly, when I heard a voice from another section of the van say⟳, 'Are you P from Macclesfield?'”

CEFR level