subs. (colloquial).—1. An expert; a DABSTER. [Thought to be a corruption of ‘adept’ (Latin adeptus) a dep; a dap; a dab.] Cf., ‘dabbler,’ one who meddles without mastery; a superficial meddler. Fr., dab, dabe, or dade.
1733. Letter of LORD CHESTERFIELD to Lady Suffolk, 17 Aug. [Suffolk Correspondence, 1824, ii., 64.] … known DABS at finding out mysteries.
1748. T. DYCHE, A New General English Dictionary (5 ed.). DAB (s.) … also an expert gamester is so called [also 1754, MARTIN, English Dictionary (2 ed.), s.v.].
1759. GOLDSMITH, The Bee, No. 1. One writer, for instance, excels at a plan or a title-page, another works away the body of the book, and a third is a DAB at an index.
1838. The Comic Almanack, p. 148. Such a DAB to get up a commission.
1849. JOHN SMITH (J. D. Lewis), Sketches of Cantabs.
| Hark the gun has gone thrice, and now off in a trice, | |
| With the Johnians we’re soon on a level, | |
| When Hicks whose no DAB with his oar cuts a crab, | |
| And our coxswain he swears like the devil. |
1860. DICKENS, Great Expectations, ch. xlii., p. 200. He was a smooth one to talk, and was a DAB at the ways of gentlefolks.
1823. W. T. MONCRIEFF, Tom and Jerry, Act iii., Sc. 3. Mace: … Vhen ve’ve had the liqvor, ve’ll kick up a reel, and all go to our DABS.
3. (river-side thieves’).—The drowned corpse of an outcast woman.
4. (old).—A trifle.
1745. WALPOLE, Letter to Sir Horace Mann, ii., 53. The Count may have procured for her some dirty DAB of a negotiation about some acre of territory more for Hanover.
Adj. (colloquial).—1. Clever; skilled; expert.—See subs., sense 1. Fr., avoir le pouce long, or rond, i.e., ‘to have a long or round thumb.’
2. (back slang).—Bad. A DABHENO, a bad market, day, or sale. DOOGHENO = a good clay, etc.; DAB TROS = a bad sort.
1872. DIPROSE, Book about London and London Life, ix. I’ve been doing awful ‘DAB’ (bad) with my ‘tol’ (lot) or stock, ha’nt made a ‘yennep’ (penny).
RUM-DABE, subs. (old).—The same as DAB, subs., sense 1. [RUM (q.v.) is old cant for ‘good.’]
DAB DOWN, verbal phr. (common).—To pay; hand over; to ‘post’ or ‘SHELL OUT’ (q.v. for synonyms).
TO DAB IT UP [with a woman], verbal phr. (old).—To pair off; to agree to cohabitation.
