What does dribbing mean?
Dribbing is a rare English word connected to the older term 'drib', which denotes a small drop of liquid or a tiny, insignificant amount. Used mostly as a verbal noun, it describes liquid falling or flowing in small drops — a thin dribbing of water from a tap, say, rather than a steady stream. The word belongs chiefly to older British usage and regional dialect, where forms like 'drib', 'dribble', and 'dribblet' circulated freely alongside one another. In contemporary writing it has been almost entirely displaced by its more familiar relative 'dribbling', so readers today are most likely to meet it in historical fiction, dialect literature, or older technical accounts of plumbing and distilling. Its connotations are modest: it suggests something scanty, gradual, and slightly inadequate — supplies arriving by dribbings rather than in proper quantity. While not useful in everyday speech, it offers a glimpse into how English once distinguished fine gradations of smallness in both liquids and quantities generally.
A small drop or trickle of liquid; an insignificant amount.
"A mere dribbing of milk was left in the jug."
Chiefly archaic or dialectal; prefer 'drop' or 'trickle' in modern use.
Falling or flowing in small drops; trickling gradually.
"Water kept dribbing from the cracked pipe all night."
Rare variant of 'dribbling'; avoid in current writing.
Plural used when referring to multiple small drops or repeated small amounts.
"The cistern yielded only dribbings through the summer."
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of dribbing
Dribbing derives from 'drib', a word of uncertain but likely imitative origin recorded in Scots and northern English dialect from at least the early seventeenth century, meaning a drop or small amount. It is closely related to 'dribble', probably an iterative formation on 'drib', and to the diminutive 'dribblet' or 'driblet'. These forms share the Germanic pattern of expressive sound-symbolic words describing dripping liquid, though no single continental cognate can be stated with certainty.
Related word forms
How dribbing is actually used
Extremely rare and largely obsolete; modern writers should prefer 'dribble' or 'trickle'. Encountered mainly in older British texts and dialect glossaries.
Easily confused with dribbing
'Dribbling' is the standard modern form for letting liquid flow in drops or moving a ball in sport, whereas 'dribbing' is a rare or obsolete variant.