Dibble

/ˈdɪb(ə)l/ · noun

Meaning

A pointed implement used to make holes in the ground in which to set out plants or to plant seeds..

Definitions by Sense

1. A pointed implement used to make holes in the ground in which to set out plants or to plant seeds.
2. (transitive) To make holes or plant seeds using, or as if using, a dibble.
3. (intransitive) To use a dibble; to make holes in the soil.
4. (intransitive) To dib or dip frequently, as in angling.
5. (slang, British, originally Manchester, countable) A police officer, especially one serving with Greater Manchester Police.
6. (slang, British, originally Manchester, uncountable) Preceded by the: the police.

Example Sentences

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: […]

Earth'd up, here lies an imp o' hell, / Planted by Satan's dibble— / Poor silly wretch, he's damned himsel', / To save the Lord the trouble.

In sowing time ne'er would I dibble take, / Or drop a seed, till thou wast wide awake; […]

It was Digory who had the bright idea of eating four each and planting the ninth; for, as he said, "if the bar off the lamp-post turned into a little light-tree, why shouldn’t this turn into a toffee-tree?" So they dibbled a small hole in the turf and buried the piece of toffee.

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 snowloads shuffle down; […]

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 proper ſtaff ſhod with iron in each hand, and as he walks backwards is able by looking at the part of the row already made to keep nearly in a ſtraight line, and to make two holes at once at about nine inches diſtant from each other every way.

I would as soon be gored by my ain bull that gangs on Dalmakittenleys, as have ill luck, and sorrow, and mischance, drilled and dibbled into my frail body by the spiteful een of an auld hag.

And neere to them ye see the lesser dibling Teale

Synonyms for dibble

Antonyms for dibble

Related Words

Word Forms

• dibbles
• dibbling
• dibbled

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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