dribblen.
1.
a. A small trickling and barely continuous stream; a small quantity or drop of liquid.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > [noun] > a quantity of > small
dropc1290
drewc1430
gutta1562
trickle1580
dribblea1682
sye1781
dreg1821
driblet1861
a1682 F. Sempill Banishm. Poverty in J. Watson Choice Coll. Scots Poems (1706) i. 14 I..stour'd to Leith To try my Credit at the Wine, But foul a dribble fyl'd my Teeth.
1786 R. Burns To Mouse vi, in Poems 140 The Winter's sleety dribble.
1836 F. Marryat Mr. Midshipman Easy III. xii. 241 Teeth black with chewing, and always a little brown dribble from the left corner of his mouth.
1885 Manch. Examiner 6 June 5/4 This stream is a mere languid dribble from the side of the mountain.
b. transferred and figurative.
ΚΠ
1832 Westm. Rev. 17 403 (note) As often as her apron~string breaks, the stones fall in such a direction as to form a dribble.
a1871 R. Chambers Wheesht! These people..attempt to work off ‘a great secret’ upon me, in their quiet way, dribble by dribble.
1871 L. Stephen Playground of Europe (1894) xii. 294 The little dribble of Commerce..never quite ceases.
2. Association Football. An act of ‘dribbling’: see dribble v. 4.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > [noun] > actions or manoeuvres
footer1781
place-kick1845
place-kicking1845
punt1845
miskick1868
footwork1871
goal-kicking1871
shinning1873
punt kick1876
tackle1876
heading1887
dribble1889
throw-in1896
breakaway1906
right-footer1906
set piece1938
long ball1954
scissors kick1955
1889 Pauline 8 34 When play was again resumed, the Modern forwards..did a good dribble into the Classical twenty-five.
1894 Westm. Gaz. 13 Mar. 5/3 He..collided with an opponent, who had led a dribble down the field.
3. local. A field drain made of broken stones between which the water trickles. Cf. rubble n.
ΚΠ
1843 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 4 ii. 325 Stone drains are various; the most common here [i.e. in Wiltshire] are wall, and dribble or rubble.
1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 234 The dribble is made with stones, broken about the size..used for roads, the drain about eight inches wide filled a foot high with the stones.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
dribblev.
/ˈdrɪb(ə)l/ 1. transitive. To let (anything) flow or fall in drops or a trickling stream; to give forth or emit in driblets. literal and figurative. With out, forth, away.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming out > letting or sending out > let or send out [verb (transitive)] > emit > emit in drops or trickle
shedc1175
berainc1420
drizzle1543
dribble1589
trickle1602
1589 ‘M. Marprelate’ Theses Martinianæ 31 I thinke it well if I can drible out a Pistle in octauo nowe and then.
1596 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) ix. lii. 238 Dribling Almes by Arte.
1745 J. Swift Direct. to Servants 20 Let the Cook..follow..with a Ladle-full [of soup], and dribble it all the Way up Stairs.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People vii. §6. 405 Elizabeth dribbled out her secret aid to the Prince of Orange.
2. absol. or intransitive. To allow saliva to flow down over the chin; to drool. Hence also figurative, = drivel v.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > action of slavering > slaver [verb (intransitive)]
drivelOE
slaverc1325
slobberc1400
drib1523
slabber1648
dribble1673
drool1810
slubberc1820
slob1860
slaum1911
1673 tr. A. de Courtin Rules Civility (ed. 2) vi. 61 Snoaring, sweating, gaping, or dribling.
1732 C. Mortimer in Philos. Trans. 1731–2 (Royal Soc.) 37 167 He..had no Motion to vomit, but dribbled much.
1870 C. Dickens Edwin Drood i. 2 The Lascar laughs and dribbles at the mouth.
1897 N.E.D. at Dribble Mod. Infants generally dribble when they are teething.
3.
a. intransitive. To flow down in small quantities or in a small and fitful stream; to trickle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > liquid flow > action or process of dripping or falling in drops > drip or fall in drops [verb (intransitive)] > be dripping > saliva, water, sleet
drivel?a1425
dribble1599
dripple1821
1599 [implied in: A. M. tr. O. Gaebelkhover Bk. Physicke 95/1 Take sixe, or seaven sheepe dribbelinges, as fresh as the sheepe avoydeth them. (at dribbling n. 1b)].
1627 [implied in: M. Drayton Elegies in Battaile Agincourt 186 The Hower-glasse..whose dribbling sands..make mee too much to feele Your slackenesse hither. (at dribbling adj. 2)].
1669 S. Pepys Diary 1 May (1976) IX. 540 The day also being unpleasing..and now and then a little dribbling of rain.
1784 R. B. Cheston in Med. Communications 2 6 She had perceived her water dribbling from her.
1802 W. Paley Nat. Theol. xv. 287 Which receiver..allows the grain to dribble only in small quantities into the central hole in the upper mill-stone.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 22 The water which falls upon the rock then dribbles through the little cracks.
b. transferred and figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming in > go or come in [verb (intransitive)] > gradually
to edge in1683
to work in1703
dribble1865
1600 [implied in: P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxvi. xvii. 597 There passed some dribbling skirmishes [L. levia proelia] betweene the..Carthaginians, and..the Romanes. (at dribbling adj. 3)].
1865 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia V. xviii. v. 113 From about the end of June, the Reichs Army kept dribbling in.
4.
a. transitive. In Association Football, etc. To keep (the ball) moving along the ground in front of and close to one by a rapid succession of short pushes, instead of sending it as far as possible by a vigorous kick. Also absol.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > play football [verb (transitive)] > actions or manoeuvres
place-kick1845
punt1845
dribble1863
head1871
tackle1884
mark1887
foot1900
boot1914
rumble1954
late-tackle1957
dummy1958
crash-tackle1960
to pick up1961
nod1965
slot1970
welly1986
1863 A. G. Guillemard in Sport. Gaz. Oct. (Football) The Eton game, when the ‘long-behind’ is dribbling the ball before his feet slowly forward.
1868 Football Annual 1 ‘Dribbling’, as the science of working the ball along the ground by means of the feet is technically termed.
1871 A. G. Guillemard in Bell's Life in London Apr. The Scottish forwards ‘gained not a little by their dribbling, which feature of the game is but seldom seen round London’.
1880 Times 12 Nov. 4/4 There is no more legitimate and scientific form of ‘football’ than the ‘drop-kick’ and that ‘dribbling’ with the feet which now forms a most important part of the Rugby game.
1883 F. M. Crawford Mr. Isaacs viii. 165 To dribble it [the ball, at polo], along.
1887 Daily News 10 Jan. 3/5 The English forwards dribbled the ball close up to the Welsh line and nearly scored.
b. Billiards. To give (a ball) a slight push.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > billiards, pool, or snooker > [verb (transitive)] > play (the ball) in specific way
hazard1674
string1680
miss1746
pocket1756
hole1803
spot1844
nurse1850
draw1860
pot1860
hold1869
dribble1873
fluke1881
scratch1909
1873 J. Bennett & ‘Cavendish’ Billiards 253 To keep the white by the spot, and by the same stroke to dribble the red over the corner.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > competitive shooting > archery > practise archery [verb (transitive)] > shoot arrow in specific way
overshoota1500
drib1545
dribble1567
rove1581
1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) xii. f. 156v Paris dribbling out his shaftes among the Greekes hee spyde.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) i. iii. 2 Beleeue not that the dribling dart of Loue Can pierce a compleat bosome. View more context for this quotation
1634 Bp. J. Hall Contempl. Hist. New Test. (STC 12640.5) 97 Prayer is an arrow;..If it be but dribbled forth of carelesse lips, it falls downe at our foot.
Draft additions June 2014
Basketball.
a. transitive. To bounce (the ball) continuously with one's hand, esp. while moving around the court.
ΚΠ
1893 Daily Jrnl. (Logansport, Indiana) 15 Apr. The ball may be dribbled along the ground with the hand.
1904 G. T. Hepbron How to play Basket Ball 74 The guard should be able to ‘dribble’ the ball down the field.
1957 Sunday Sun (Baltimore) 27 Jan. (Mag.) 2/4 The offensive team dribbled the ball all over the court, waiting for a clear shot.
2011 W. J. Bennett Bk. of Man iii. 169 He would dribble the ball between his legs and around his back at dizzying speeds, and then do it again with his opposite hand.
b. intransitive. To move along the court while bouncing the ball continuously with one's hand.
ΚΠ
1898 Men 12 Feb. 419/1 ‘Dribbling’ or bouncing the ball was a play they did not discover the excellence of until this year.
1920 Bloomington (Indiana) Evening World 24 Jan. 1/7 One time he dribbled through the entire Purdue team.
1975 Sacramento Observer 19 Feb. b6 What does a professional basketball player do when he's not dribbling down court?
2003 Times 22 Feb. (Weekend section) 17 Cut to the hoop, shot-block, pass and dribble like a 7ft basketball champion.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1682v.1567