▪ I. dub, n.1 Sc. and north. dial.
(dʌb)
Also 6 doubbe, dubbe, 6–7 dubb; see also dib n.3
[Of uncertain origin.
It has been compared with Da. dyb adj. deep, n. deep, abyss; but this being a relatively recent repr. of ON. dj{uacu}p, can hardly be connected.]
1. A muddy or stagnant pool; a small pool of rain water in a road; a puddle. (Chiefly Sc.)
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxiii. 119 Thre dayis in dub amang the dukis He did with dirt him hyde. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. Prol. 54 The..stretis..Full of fluschis, doubbis, myre and clay. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. ii. 145 Ouir dykes and dubis, sykes and seuches thay sould spang and leip. 1790 Burns Tam o' Shanter 81 Tam skelpit on thro' dub and mire. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped xxiv. 243 ‘Here's a dub for ye to jump.’ |
2. A deep dark pool in a river or stream (north. dial.).
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 264 Siclike the Scottis, on the tother syde, Arrayit war thair battell for to byde..Ane mos also vpoun the tother syde, With mony dubbis that war bayth deip and wyde. 1825 Brockett N.C. Words, Dub, a small pool of water; a piece of deep and smooth water in a rapid river. 1883 Kendal Mercury 12 Oct. 5/3 In the neighbourhood of Tebay salmon are in the various favourite dubs in immense numbers. 1886 Pall Mall G. 6 Oct. 4/1 During summer and when the water becomes low the fish congregate in deep ‘dubs’. |
3. Comb., as dub-skelper, one who runs through the ‘dubs’, ‘a rambling fellow’ (Jam.).
| 1824 Scott St. Ronan's xxviii, I'll warrant it's some idle dub-skelper..coming after some o' yoursells. 1825 Brockett, Dub-skelper, bog-trotter; applied to the borderers. |
▪ II. † dub, n.2 Angling. Obs.
[f. dub v.1 5.]
An artificial fly: also dub-fly.
| a 1450 Fysshynge w. Angle (1883) 6 How ye schall make your hokes of steyl & of osmonde som for þe dub & som for þe flote. Ibid. 20 Yf ye se..þe trowyt or the graylyng lepe, angle to hym with a dub accordyng to the same moneth. 1681 J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. ii. §11 (1689) 12 Your line for Dub-fly, Cast-fly, or Artificial fly. |
▪ III. dub, n.3
(dʌb)
Also 6 dubbe.
[Mainly onomatopœic (cf. dub-a-dub, rub-a-dub); but having connexions with dub v.2]
1. A beat of a drum; the sound of a drum when beaten. Cf. dub-a-dub.
| c 1572 Gascoigne Fruits of Warre Wks. (1587) 113 They..Who followe drummes before they knowe the dubbe. 1576 Turberv. Venerie 140 That drummes with deadly dub, may countervayle the blast. 1710 E. Ward Brit. Hudibras 86 Before the Masters of the Dub..Advanc'd a Red-fac'd squabby Fellow. 1816 Keatinge Trav. (1817) I. 321 The sullen dub of two drums beaten with crooked sticks. |
2. A blow struck as in drumming. rare.
| 1664 Butler Hud. ii. i. 850 As skilful Coopers hoop their Tubs With Lydian and with Phrygian Dubs; Why may not Whipping have as good A Grace, perform'd in Time and Mood? |
3. A short blunt dull-sounding thrust or blow.
| 1837 Hawthorne Twice-Told T. II. xix. 271 Jotting down each dull footstep with a melancholy dub of his staff. |
▪ IV. dub, n.4 East Ind.
(dʌb)
[Telugu dabba.]
‘A small copper coin, value 20 cash’ (Yule).
| 1781 in Ld. Lindsay Lives Lindsays (1849) III. (Y.), The fanam changes for 11 dubs and 4 cash. 1791 J. Anderson Corr. 43 The Exchange 88 Dubs for one Rupee. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Dub..a division of the rupee in Mangalore, also called dudu, equal to about 2½d. |
▪ V. dub, n.5 Criminals' slang.
(dʌb)
[Cf. dub v.3]
A key, especially one used for picking locks. Hence ˈdubsman (or abbrev. dubs), a turnkey, gaoler.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Dub, c. a Pick-lock-key. 1789 G. Parker Life's Painter 139 A bunch of young dubs by her side. 1821 D. Haggart Life 31 We seized him, took the dubs, bound, and gagged him. 1839 Ainsworth Jack Sheppard ii. xii, Oh! give me a chisel, a knife, or a file, And the dubsmen shall find that I'll do it in style! 1887 Henley Villon's Good Night (Farmer), You coppers' narks, and dubs, What pinched me when upon the snam. 1923 Chambers's Jrnl. 716/1, I pulled the dub of the outer jigger from his suck. |
▪ VI. dub, n.6 slang (orig. U.S.).
[Perh. related to dub v.1 11, dubbed ppl. a. 4]
One who is inexperienced or unskilful at anything; a duffer, fool.
| 1887 Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.) 20 Jan. 6/4 Dem dubs is goin' to git it in de neck. 1896 Ade Artie i. 4 What kills me off is how all these dubs make their star winnins. 1902 H. L. Wilson Spenders xxx. 353 People can talk all they want to about your bein' just a dub—I won't believe 'em. 1905 Smart Set Oct. 18/1 I've made up my mind that I ain't goin' to keep on bein' a common dub all my life. 1911 H. Quick Yellowstone Nights 43, I was coming on pretty well for a dub. 1916 ‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 8 The Schmidt customer crowd didn't need to know a thing about me being here unless he was dub enough to tell 'em. 1923 J. Manchon Le Slang 111 Dub, tennis, un joueur médiocre. 1931 T. A. Harper Windy Island (1934) II. iii. 122 He was not exactly a dub at Latin and maths. 1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger xix. 213 Quinlan wasn't such a dub as he looks. 1949 O. Nash Versus 40 The unassuming dub Trying to pick up a Saturday game In the locker room of the club. |
▪ VII. dub, n.7
[f. dub v.5]
1. A re-mixed version of a piece of recorded music, often with the melody line removed and including various special effects, which was developed in Jamaica and is popular esp. in reggae and other Black music. Freq. attrib.
| 1974 C. Gillett Rock File ii. 70 (heading) Dub wise skank: talk over. 1975 Black Music June 21/3 He's been collecting some heavy dubs. 1977 Sounds 3 Dec. 22 The first dub record was ‘Travelling Man’ by the Techniques. 1978 Oxford Times (City ed.) 13 Jan. 15 ‘Dub’..a peculiar Jamaican invention in which the recording is remixed with various electronic effects and alterations—reverberation, feedback, repetition—while keeping the existing bass line throughout. 1983 Listener 19 May 22/3 As we pull up outside a reggae shop in the Lower Clapton Road, loud and bass-heavy ‘dub’ music with a patois talkover ‘toast’ booms into the bus. |
2. A type of Black performance poetry, orig. performed extempore and accompanied by dub (sense 1 above) or other recorded music, but subsequently also written down. Freq. attrib., as dub poet. Cf. toast n.3
| 1982 D. Sutcliffe Brit. Black Eng. ii. 63 Johnson has..brought his poetry to young Black people on record, where it becomes a kind of ‘dub’. 1982 New Musical Express 30 Oct. 19/1, I consider Louise Bennett to be the mother of the young dub poets. 1983 Poetry Soc. News Let. Sept. 2 Michael Smith, Jamaica's leading dub poet, was murdered on August 17. 1986 Daily Tel. 24 Nov. 31/2 In this last episode Robert McNeil explores the new Englishes of Papuan tribesmen, Krio speakers in Sierra Leone, dub poets in the West Indies and Brixton, [etc.]. |
▪ VIII. dub, v.1
(dʌb)
Forms: 1 dubban, 2–5 dubben, 3–5 dobb(e, 4–6 dubbe, 4 dube, 5 doubbe, dowbe, 5–6 doub(e, 5– dub.
[Appears in Eng. before 1100. Generally supposed to be from OFr., which had in this sense aduber (Ch. de Rol. 11th c.), adober, adouber, also (rarer, and app. only later) duber, douber. The OFr. word is Com. Rom., It. addobbare, OSp. and Pr. adobar, OPg. adubar; its ulterior derivation is unknown.
By Diez it was assumed to be of Teutonic origin: there is however no such Germanic verb as dubban to strike, and the Icel. and Sw. dubba, cited in support of such, are really late words for ‘to dub a knight’, from Eng. or Romanic. EFris. dubben to strike, seems, like our dub v.2, to be a recent onomatopœic formation. Even the relation of Eng. dub to the OF. word presents difficulties, since the latter would be expected to have been adopted as adub, which is not found till the 15th c. Branch II is presumably an extension of the same word, though some of the senses are very remote, and are perh. affected by other associations.]
I. To invest with a dignity or title.
1. trans. To confer the rank of knighthood by the ceremony of striking the shoulder with a sword. a. (with compl.) to dub (one) a knight († to a knight).
| 1085–1123 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1085, Se cyng..dubbade his sunu Henric to ridere þær. c 1205 Lay. 22497 Þu..scalt..to cnihte hine dubben. a 1300 K. Horn 447 Horn..þu schalt beo dubbed kniȝt. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon i. 31 The kynge Charlemayne..doubed hym to a knyghte. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Dk. of Suffolk v, Whan my Kyng had doubed me a Knight. 1764 Foote Mayor of G. i. i, Has his majesty dubbed me a Knight for you to make me a Mister? 1865 Kingsley Herew. II. vii. 116 Thou wast dubbed knight in this church. |
† b. (with simple obj.) to dub (a knight, etc.).
| 13.. K. Alis. 818 Dubbed weore an hundrud knightis. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1168 Charlis..him self me dobbede riȝt. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶693 The swerd that men yeuen first to a knyght whan he is newe dubbed. 1470–85 Malory Arthur Contents xiii. i, How..a damoysel..desyred syr launcelot for to come and dubbe a knyght. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. II. 37/1 He dubd on saint Michaell the archangels daie thirtie knights. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. ii. 35 So he him dubbed, and his knight did call. 1617 in Crt. & Times Jas. I (1849) I. 467 Sir John Smith..was lately knighted..Robin Hatton..was likewise dubbed. 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2031/1 [They] were Dub'd by his Grace with the Sword of State. |
2. To invest with a dignity or new title. (In later times often mockingly or humorously used.)
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 331 An abbot..of Scone, þat dubbid þe kyng. c 1340 Cursor M. 7328 (Fairf.) He sal be dubbed [earlier texts enoynted] king to be. c 1400 Melayne 304 Dubbe hym Duke in my stede. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. i. 82 Since that our Brother dub'd them Gentlewomen. 1737 Pope Hor. Epist. i. vi. 81 A Man of wealth is dubb'd a Man of worth. a 1745 Swift Wks. (1841) II. 76 The college..has dubbed most of us doctors. 1758 G. Washington Writ. (1889) II. 6 note, You are pleased to dub me with a title I have no pretentions to—that is, y⊇ Honble. 1865 M. E. Braddon Only a Clod iv. 22 They'd hardly dub you Esquire. 1893 Ch. Times 6 Oct. 995/3 The marvel is that he was not dubbed F.R.S. |
3. To name, style, nickname; to speak of or set down as: now usually in pleasantry or ridicule.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. ii. 120 To dub thee with the name of Traitor. 1607 Schol. Disc. agst. Antichr. i. iv. 175 The reading of homilies, which they dubb with the name of preaching. 1693 Humours & Conv. Town 62 A Condemning-Face..dubs any one an uncontrovertible Critick. 1713 Steele Englishm. No. 40. 260 A Cobler blacks a Boot..and dubs it La Botte Royalle. 1773 Garrick Prol. to Goldsmith's Stoops to Conq., You..Pronounce him regular, or dub him quack. 1894 G. R. Sims in My First Bk. 88 Was I to be dubbed a scribbler? |
II. To dress; to trim; to crop.
† 4. To dress, clothe, array, adorn. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 28014 Yee leuedis..studis hu your hare to heu, hu to dub and hu to paynt. c 1325 Metr. Hom. (1862) 12 He..schop him bodi of hir fleyse And dubbed him wit our liknes. a 1450 Alexander 3447 He gase..vp to þe gilt trone, Dobbed in his diademe & diȝt as be-fore. 1570 Levins Manip. 181/38 To Dub the house, exornare, putare. |
† b. To ‘stick’ (with ornaments). Obs.
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxii. 24 Covered..of Plate of fyn gold, dubbed with precious stones. c 1400 Destr. Troy 6205 A cloth all of clene gold, Dubbit full of diamondis. |
5. Angling. To dress or make up (an artificial fly), or to dress (a hook or line) with a fly.
| a 1450 Fysshynge w. Angle (1883) 33 Thyse ben the xij. flyes wyth whyche ye shall angle to þe trought & grayllyng, and dubbe lyke as ye shall now here me tell. 1675 J. Smith Chr. Relig. App. i. 65 He who..dubbs his Hook with a counterfeit Fly, will chuse to fish in troubled Waters. 1799 Sporting Mag. XIII. 31 Dubbed with bear's hair of a brownish colour. 1846 Blackw. Mag. LIX. 310 They could neither scour a worm..nor dub a fly. |
6. a. To cut off the comb and wattles of (a cock).
| 1570 Levins Manip. 181/39 To Dubbe a cocke, coronare. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 252/2. 1828 Craven Dial. 1871 Darwin Desc. Man xiii. (1883) 403 Cock-fighters trim the hackles and cut off the combs and gills of their cocks; and the birds are then said to be dubbed. |
b. To trim or crop (trees, hedges, etc.).
| 1634–5 Brereton Trav. (Chetham) 73 The trees, which are now cut and dubbed. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Dubbings, evergreens with which churches and houses are decorated at Christmas. 1884 Cheshire Gloss., Dub, to clip a hedge. |
7. To dress (cloth) see quot. 1847. Formerly, To ‘renovate’ old cloth or clothes: see dubber1.
| [a 1400 Liber Albus iv. lf. 337 a. (Rolls) 718 Item, qe nul face dubber ne fuller tielx draps, et les vendent pur novels.] 1801 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 456 For dressing or dubbing cloths, either wet or dry, otherwise than by green cards and pickards. 1847–78 Halliwell, Dub, to strike cloth with teasels in order to raise the flock or nap. Glouc. |
8. ‘To place good wares in the upper part of a basket and inferior beneath; a term still in use in Billingsgate Market.’ Riley, Liber Albus III. 311.
| [1290 in Liber Albus iii. iii. (Rolls) 378 Et qe nulle soit des pessoners si hardi..faucementz a douber lour panyers; cestassavoir, mettre al desus panyer un demonstrance de convenable pessoun, et dessouthe en les panyers mettre pessoun desconvenable de poy de value.] |
9. To smear with fat or grease. Now spec. to do this to leather. Cf. dubbing vbl. n. 4.
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad i. 448 All, after pray'r..kill'd, flay'd the beeves, Cut out and dubb'd with fat their thighs, fair dress'd with doubled leaves. 1615 ― Odyss. iii. 619 Apart flew either thigh, That with the fat they dubb'd. 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 162 Well dressed ox or cow leather..when in use, is occasionally dubbed over with neat's oil. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xviii. 398 Grease was needed for dubbing leather. |
10. To trim, or work level and smooth, with an adze. Also with off, down, out.
| 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 160 To Dub; to work with an Addice. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. iv, I had..to cut down a Tree..hew it flat on either Side with my Ax, till I had brought it to be thin as a Plank, and then dubb it smooth with my Adze. 1789 G. Keate Pelew Isl. 315 Canoes made from the trunk of a tree dubbed out. 1812 J. Smyth Pract. of Customs 234 A paling board..slabbed or feather-edged and dubbed on the sappy side. |
11. To beat blunt or flat.
| 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 298/1 The end of the tube is bent and hammered over in any rough way to pass it through..and is afterwards ‘dubbed’ or ‘tanged’. |
▪ IX. dub, v.2
[Known only since 1500: evidently onomatopœic, imitating the sound, or suggesting the feeling of a firm blow or thrust with something blunt. Cf. EFris. dubben to butt, beat, strike.]
1. trans. To thrust: now implying a moderately firm blunt thrust or poke. † Formerly also, To stab as with a dagger; to bring down (a club) (obs.).
| 1513 Douglas æneis iv. xii. 109 Or that Proserpine..dubbit hir heid Onto the Stygian hellis flude of deid. c 1572 Gascoigne Fruites Warre Wks. (1831) 210 With bodkins dubd and doust to death. 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. ii. vii. (R.), He dubs his club about their pates. a 1659 Cleveland Gen. Poems, etc. (1677) 15 Women commence by Cupid's Dart, As a King hunting Dubs a Hart. 1836 E. Howard R. Reefer xxxiv, Pigs..were..to be seen dubbing their snouts under the gunnel. |
b. intr. To make a thrust or dab, to poke (at).
| 1833 Marryat P. Simple xv, The slightest mistake as to time..and at this moment the flatfish would have been dubbing at our ugly carcasses. 1875 G. W. Dasent Vikings II. 196 The flounders would now be dubbing at our limbs thirty fathoms deep. |
2. Used intr. and trans. of the beating or sound of a drum. Also redupl. dub-a-dub, rub-a-dub. Cf. dub n.3
| 1588 T. Deloney 3 Ball. Armada ii. iv. in Arb. Garner VII. 47 With trumpets sounding, and with dubbing drums. Ibid. ii. xiv. 50 The warlike Armie then stood still, and drummers left their dubbing sound. a 1625 Fletcher Mad Lover i. i, Now the drums dubbs. |
▪ X. dub, v.3 slang.
[? corruption of dup v. = do up.]
† 1. trans. To open (a door). Obs.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v. Case, Tis all Bob, and then to dub the gigg. Ibid. s.v. Gigger., Dub the Gigger, open the Door with the Pick-lock. |
2. To shut up.
| 1753 J. Poulter Discoveries 33 If the Seger is dub'd, that is, the Door lock'd or bolted. 1781 G. Parker View of Society II. i. 69 Dub the Jigger is, in other words, shut the door. 1785 in Grose. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Dub up, to lock up or secure any thing or place; also to button one's pocket, coat, etc. 1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights i. 12 Everybody in the nick had already been dubbed up for the night. |
▪ XI. dub, v.4 slang.
[Origin obscure.]
intr. To pay up; so to dub in, to make a contribution.
| 1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang 72 Dub up, to pay at once. 1839 Comic Almanack 1840 36 ‘Come, dub up!’ roars a third; and I don't mind telling you.. that I..took out the sovereign and gave it. 1845 Punch Oct. 147/1 He has been compelled to ‘dub up’ out of his own pocket. 1846 Swell's Night Guide 79 A stranger may gain admission by the rum cull introducing him, and dubbing a tanner to the chairman. 1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes I. v. 181 The juniors are compelled to dub up. 1923 Blunden Christ's Hospital 199 Five or six boys ‘dub in’ for a pot of strawberry jam or treacle. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. x. 195 The demand to hand over has elsewhere been heard expressed in the words: ‘Cough it up’, ‘Dish it out’, ‘Dub up’ (North Country). |
▪ XII. dub, v.5
[Shortened form of double v.]
trans. To provide an alternative sound track to (a film or television broadcast), especially a translation from a foreign language; to mix (various sound tracks) into a single track (see quot. 1959); to impose (additional sounds) on to an existing recording; to transfer (recorded sound) on to a new record. Also with in, on. So dubbed ppl. a.; ˈdubbing ppl. a. and vbl. n.2
| 1929 N.Y. Times 13 Oct. ix. 8/6 Dubbing, the process of re-recording from film to film, or from film to wax, or from wax to film, or from wax to wax. 1930 Electronics Nov. 373/2 These people are then re-photographed in silent close-ups, and then foreign players ‘dub’ in the same lines. 1930 Pitkin & Marston Art of Sound Pictures 270 Dubbing, a method of doubling the voice on the screen after the photographing of the picture. 1931 B. Brown Talking Pictures xi. 275 Dubbing on disc is no more difficult than on film. Ibid. 288 Dubbing from sound track to disc was frequently employed. 1938 Encycl. Brit. Bk. of Yr. 421/1 ‘Dubbed’ versions, bearing sound tracks in the native languages. 1939 Times 25 Mar. 10/4 Queen Mary..went into what is called the ‘dubbing’ theatre, where sound is recorded. 1944 Ann. Reg. 1943 344 The Overseas Dispatch Department..handled some 300 copies of 80 different films..some ‘dubbed’ and some with foreign commentaries or foreign subtitles. 1952 Record Year 124 The Michelangeli set (GX 61004–7) is a dubbing, so unsuccessful as to preclude judgment on the merits of the performance. 1959 Halas & Manvell Technique Film Animation xix. 209 The final set of tracks required for dubbing are laid, and at the subsequent dubbing session these are run simultaneously and balanced together and amalgamated on to one single sound track. 1962 Movie Sept. 6/3 Watching a film he has previously made with the director for whom he is now working in the dubbing room. 1966 B.B.C. Handbk. 38 More international sound tracks for programmes were provided to allow foreign commentaries to be dubbed on. |
▪ XIII. dub, dube
var. of doob, E. Indian grass.