dib

American  

[dib] / dɪb /

verb (used without object)

dibbed, dibbing

1. to fish by letting the bait bob lightly on the water.

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dib British  

/ dɪb /

verb

1. (intr) to fish by allowing the bait to bob and dip on the surface

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Etymology

Origin of dib

1600–10; expressive word akin to dab ¹, dip ¹, bob ¹, etc.

Example Sentences

He does not dib at it and give the trowel back to the mason, but sets to work methodically.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Div-us, which only signifies Genius, God of the second order, appears to me to come from the oriental word div substituted for dib, wolf and chacal, one of the emblems of the sun.

From The Ruins, or, Meditation on the Revolutions of Empires and the Law of Nature by Volney, C.-F. (Constantin-François)

By proceeding quietly I could "dib" the fly over the fish.

From Lines in Pleasant Places Being the Aftermath of an Old Angler by Senior, William

The difficulty disappears if we assume the root tib or dib to have been originally the phonetic equivalent of a gesture expressive of the notion of covering as well as of that of measuring.

From Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared With That Among Other Peoples And Deaf-Mutes First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1879-1880, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1881, pages 263-552 by Mallery, Garrick

"That's all you know about it," he said carelessly, as he shut one eye and took steady aim at the "dib" in the ring, "I've had two."

From Purple Springs by McClung, Nellie L.