dabbler


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dab·ble

 (dăb′əl)
v. dab·bled, dab·bling, dab·bles
v.tr.
To splash or spatter with or as if with a liquid: "The moon hung over the harbor dabbling the waves with gold" (Katherine Mansfield).
v.intr.
1. To splash liquid gently and playfully.
2. To undertake something superficially or without serious intent: "The restaurant business entails more than ... dabbling in interior design" (Andy Birsh).
3. To feed by moving the bill back and forth just below the surface or on the bottom in shallow water. Used of ducks.

[Possibly from Dutch dabbelen, frequentative of dabben, to strike, tap.]

dab′bler n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.dabbler - an amateur who engages in an activity without serious intentions and who pretends to have knowledge
amateur - someone who pursues a study or sport as a pastime
2.dabbler - any of numerous shallow-water ducks that feed by upending and dabblingdabbler - any of numerous shallow-water ducks that feed by upending and dabbling
duck - small wild or domesticated web-footed broad-billed swimming bird usually having a depressed body and short legs
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

dabbler

noun
One lacking professional skill and ease in a particular pursuit:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations

dabbler

[ˈdæbləʳ] N (pej) → aficionado/a m/f (in a) → diletante mf
he's just a dabbleres un simple aficionado, para él es un pasatiempo nada más
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

dabbler

nAmateur(in) m(f)
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

dabbler

[ˈdæbləʳ] n (pej) → dilettante m/f
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
Every ignoramus of a fellow who finds that he hasn't brains in sufficient quantity to make his way as a walking advertiser, or an eye-sore prig, or a salt-and-batter man, thinks, of course, that he'll answer very well as a dabbler of mud.
According to the reports of the most talented gossip-mongers-- those who, in every class of society, are always in haste to explain every event to their neighbours--the young gentleman concerned was of good family--a prince--fairly rich--weak of intellect, but a democrat and a dabbler in the Nihilism of the period, as exposed by Mr.
He had heard of (and written about, nay, falsely pretended to know) Sir Claude Champion, as "one of the brightest and wealthiest of England's Upper Ten"; as the great sportsman who raced yachts round the world; as the great traveller who wrote books about the Himalayas, as the politician who swept constituencies with a startling sort of Tory Democracy, and as the great dabbler in art, music, literature, and, above all, acting.
Hurree Babu replied that he was no more than an inexpert dabbler in the mysteries; but at least - he thanked the Gods therefore - he knew when he sat in the presence of a master.
I would give twenty pistoles if we could fall upon the Cambridge Observatory and crush it, together with the whole lot of dabblers in figures which it contains."
These soil types are parallel to categories drawn by William Damon in 'The Path to Purpose.' Based on the youth's description of how a sense of purpose is expressed in their life, he came up with these four categories: the disengaged who has no purpose at all; the dreamer who has a sense of purpose but never acts on it; the dabbler who seems to have purpose, acts on it, but never sticks to one (the 'flavor of the month' syndrome); and finally, the purposeful who discovers purpose, acts on it over a period of time and thus allows the development of commitment and dedication.
Whatever the reasoning, what these firms don't understand is that they are running the risk or being labeled a "dabbler" as DOL Chief Accountant Ian Dingwall put it.
As a frequent traveller, businessman and dabbler in politics, I see that many European politicians and companies are jealous of the UK's success and its economic and employment freedoms - those things are hardly unrelated, of course.
She delighted in poetry and telling a story in as few words as possible; as for playwriting, she was a dabbler.
Not by being a dabbler doing three vaginal hysterectomies, three straight stick hysterectomies, three robotic hysterectomies, and three abdominal hysterectomies.
I CAN THINK of only one variety that, if tucked into a blind tasting, would be instantly recognizable by any wine dabbler who had tasted it even just once before: New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.