dabchick
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of dabchick
1565–75; earlier dapchick ( see dap, chick); compare doppened moorhen (literally, dipping duck)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As he spoke he bobbed and dipped like a dabchick or little grebe.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
A damp, rheumatic place, she said to herself, although she loved the river; and its backwaters, full of wild duck and dabchick and the moorhens, were enchanting places.
From Love of Brothers by Tynan, Katharine
Uncle Jack obeyed, while as Norman looked up, he saw himself apparently covered by the two guns, and at once dived like a dabchick.
From The Dingo Boys The Squatters of Wallaby Range by Stacey, W. S. (Walter S.)
Hardly a wild-duck is now seen; one or two moorhens or a dabchick seem all.
From The Life of the Fields by Jefferies, Richard
If the kingfisher can find a living and abundant fish in our rivers and brooks, why does the dabchick migrate?
From The Naturalist on the Thames by Cornish, C. J. (Charles John)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
