dabber
(ˈdæbə(r))
[f. dab v.1 + -er1.]
1. One who or that which dabs. b. spec. A rounded mass of some elastic material, enclosed in leather or silk, used to apply ink, colour, etc., evenly to a surface; employed in printing from type, wood-blocks, or engraved plates, in painting on china, etc.; in Printing = ball n.1 13. c. A brush used in stereotyping for pressing the damped paper into the interstices of the type, or for various purposes in gilding, photography, etc.
| c 1790 Artist's Assistant Mech. Sc. 193 The ground..is to be laid on thinly and dabbed all over with the dabber. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory II. 419 Have ready a dabber made of a round piece of white glove leather..filled with cotton, or wool, and tied close into a ball. 1821 Craig Lect. Drawing vii. 397 Taking the dabber, on which some portion of the etching ground has been left. 1854 tr. Lamartine's Celebr. Char. II. 333 Dabbers to spread the ink on the letters. 1870 Eng. Mech. 28 Jan. 487 (Gilding), Go over gently with a dabber [brush]. |
2. (See quot.)
| 1881 Oxfordsh. Gloss. Supp., Dabbers, a game played by children with small round flint stones. Dabber, a stone with which the game of Dabbers is played. |