slap-dabadv.
North American dialect and colloquial.
= slap-bang adv. (see also quot. 1895). Cf. smack-dab adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > swift movement in specific manner > [adverb] > headlong
swireforthc825
a-randounc1380
headlya1425
headlongsc1540
eavelong1567
headlong1576
rank1590
headlongly1595
precipitously1626
neck-break1631
precipitantly1656
precipitately1728
precipitatedly1770
torrentially1882
slap-dab1886
the world > space > place > position or situation > [adverb] > exactly (in a certain position)
righta1225
meet1543
plumb1701
spang1843
smack-dab1892
bung1899
bang1924
slap-dab1949
slap-bang1963
1886 Turf, Field & Farm XLII. 174/3 He was goin' that fas' he run slap-dab agin me afo' he seed me.
1895 Dial. Notes 1 399 Slap-dab.., violently or awkwardly. ‘He rushed in slap-dab and broke things.’
1949 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xi. 11 It jumped slap-dab in the middle.
1973 Victorian (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 1 Aug. 1/1 It occurred slap dab in the middle of what is now Centennial Square.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
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adv.1886