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
Gwenwynwyn gazed long, of his senses in doubt, To see the grey friar a diver so stout; Then sadly and slowly his castle he sought, And left the friar diving, like dabchick distraught.
From Crotchet Castle by Peacock, Thomas Love
The dabchick, a slender bird, haunts the pond here too, diving even more quickly than the moorhen.
From Wild Life in a Southern County by Jefferies, Richard
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
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.)
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.
