Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A dibble.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An instrument for dibbling; a dibble, or a tool having a series of dibbles or teeth for making holes in the ground.
- noun An iron tool with a sharp-pointed end of steel, or the pointed end of a claw-bar, used by miners and others for making holes.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A dibble.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
tool with ahandle on one end and apoint on the other, used in thegarden topoke holes in preparation forplanting seeds ,bulbs , etc. Also known as adibble . - noun one who
dibs .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a wooden hand tool with a pointed end; used to make holes in the ground for planting seeds or bulbs
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The other problem when you're hunting with a chronic dibber is that you have to adopt the habit merely to defend yourself.
"Claimers" 2009
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"A dibber is a pointed tool, usually a stick, used to make holes for planting seeds, bulbs, setting out plants and transplanting of seedlings."
The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming. Ellen Eddy Shaw
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Ray is a font of information, dissecting samples with a special knife called a dibber, none to more effect than a white mushroom called the 'Witch's Egg', which when sliced in two reveals a yellowing layer of foul-smelling slime encasing a grey gooey jelly.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2010
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Ray is a font of information, dissecting samples with a special knife called a dibber, none to more effect than a white mushroom called the 'Witch's Egg', which when sliced in two reveals a yellowing layer of foul-smelling slime encasing a grey gooey jelly.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2010
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Ray is a font of information, dissecting samples with a special knife called a dibber, none to more effect than a white mushroom called the 'Witch's Egg', which when sliced in two reveals a yellowing layer of foul-smelling slime encasing a grey gooey jelly.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2010
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The dibber was used to gently pry the uppermost babies up and out, trying to include as many roots as possible.
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Though the title is a How To, there is really nothing to teach about it, just use a tool of some kind, spade, weeder, screwdriver, stick, finger or a dibber like I am using.
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I do love that dibber and use it for so many things, but the planting of small bulbs is where it excels.
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I ended up sowing a few peas in half frozen soil, poking, make that jabbing the holes with the dibber.
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The most exciting event with a garbage disposal, of course, is when it jams and you have to reach in and unclog it, knowing that at any moment it might spring to life and abruptly convert your arm from a useful grasping tool into a dibber.
I'm A Stranger Here Myself Bryson, Bill 1999
yarb commented on the word dibber
Catching up the wooden dibber in his free hand he poked out fiercely an uneven line of holes in the newly turned earth of the grave.
- Aidan Higgins, Langrishe, Go Down
August 28, 2008
notjohn commented on the word dibber
Dibber has a specialised meaning within the sport of Orienteering. It refers to a small electronic device strapped to the bottom joint of a finger such that it protrudes about 3cm when the finger is bent. This is introduced into a timing box to record when a competitor has reached one of the controls (which explains the extension from the gardening tool). The box exchanges timing information with the dibber. At the end of the course the competitor downloads the contents of the dibber and gets the time taken for the course and for all the intermediate legs.
The verb from this is 'to dib'
Citation (from instructions to beginners):
"Now you are on your own, free to choose your own route from control marker to control marker. The control description sheet will help you find the control once you are close. Don't forget to record your time at each control with the dibber.
At the finish, you need to dib again. Either close by or back in the car park there will be a tent with the computer equipment. Here you will dib again to download your times into the results system, and return your hired dibber."
(http://www.stragglers.info/beginners/index.php)
June 29, 2009