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dibble

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dibble¹

  • /ˈdɪb(ə)l/ US, UK

Rhymes with -ɪbəl

Where it comes from

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

noun dibbles

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

    Similar: dibbler, dibber, dib

verb dibbles · dibbling · dibbled

  1. transitive To make holes or plant seeds using, or as if using, a dibble. And as in winter, when the frost breaks up, / At winter's end, before the spring begins, / And a warm west wind blows, and thaw sets in— / After an hour a dripping sound is heard / In all the forests, and the soft-strewn snow / Under the trees is dibbled thick with holes, / And from the boughs the s

    Similar: dib

  2. intransitive To use a dibble; to make holes in the soil. There is another method of ſowing wheat in rows uſed in ſome counties, which is termed dibbling in the language of agricultors, and consiſts in making perpendicular holes one inch and half or two inches deep, as is commonly done in planting potato-roots; theſe holes are made by a man, who has a prop

    Similar: dib

  3. intransitive To dib or dip frequently, as in angling. And neere to them ye see the lesser dibling Teale

dibble²

  • /ˈdɪb(ə)l/ US, UK

Rhymes with -ɪbəl

Where it comes from

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 dibbles

  1. UK, countable, slang A police officer, especially one serving with Greater Manchester Police. 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

    Similar: police officer

  2. UK, slang, uncountable Preceded by the: the police. Watch out, lads! Here comes the dibble!

Similar: police

Dibble³

Where it comes from

From a Middle English form of the given name Theobald.

proper noun

  1. A surname originating as a patronymic.

Thesaurus

noun

Similar: police

Translations

Every language

noun pointed implement

Españolplantador
Portuguêsplantador
Françaisplantoir
DeutschPflanzholz, Setzholz, Steckholz
Italianopiantatoio, seminatoio, scavabuche

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Cite this
MLA

"dibble." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/dibble. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

dibble. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/dibble

Chicago

"dibble." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/dibble.

BibTeX
@misc{dibble_2026,
  title = {dibble},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/dibble},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}