dabbling


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Related to dabbling: dabbling duck, defines, traipsing

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.

dabbling

(ˈdæblɪŋ)
n
1. the fact of being involved in an activity in a frivolous or superficial way
2. the fact of taking drugs occasionally without being a habitual user
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
References in classic literature ?
She liked the dabbling. She felt in it satisfaction of a kind which no other employment afforded her.
Franklin's universal genius, dabbling in everything, dabbled in what he called "decorative painting." He had invented, he informed us, a new mixture to moisten paint with, which he described as a "vehicle." What it was made of, I don't know.
It happened that an Isosceles of a low type, with a brain little if at all above four degrees -- accidentally dabbling in the colours of some Tradesman whose shop he had plundered -- painted himself, or caused himself to be painted (for the story varies) with the twelve colours of a Dodecagon.
I do not know what he means to do with himself after leaving college, but trust that, by dabbling so early with the dangerous and seductive business of authorship, he will not bc tempted to become an author by profession.
Although the early September weather was sultry, her arm, from her dabbling in the curds, was as cold and damp to his mouth as a new-gathered mushroom, and tasted of the whey.
Rothschild; but as my motive in travelling to your capital would not have been for the pleasure of dabbling in stocks, I stayed away till some favorable chance should present itself of carrying my wish into execution.
Thus urged, he would frequently give himself the trouble of watching them from the windows during their play; at times, he would follow them through the grounds, and too often came suddenly upon them while they were dabbling in the forbidden well, talking to the coachman in the stables, or revelling in the filth of the farm-yard--and I, meanwhile, wearily standing, by, having previously exhausted my energy in vain attempts to get them away.
Early in the morning I worked barefooted, dabbling like a plastic artist in the dewy and crumbling sand, but later in the day the sun blistered my feet.
This curious dabbling into foreign politics and the very many mouthing on policies of other countries masks an essential truth which is that we are escaping from the fact that our capabilities to govern ourselves are eroding rapidly.
Be careful about thinking of investing your hard-earned money as "dabbling,'' though, or of "trying your hand'' at "trading.'' That smacks of speculation, when you should aim to be a steady, long-term investor.
After dabbling in Darwin and Feynman, and cleaning out Schrodinger's Cat, Robin now delves into his mind, and possibly your mind too.