Dab

dab, v.t. to strike gently with something soft or moist, to smear:— pr.p. dab′bing; pa.p. dabbed.— n. a gentle blow: a small lump of anything soft or moist: a species of flounder of light-brown colour, with small dark spots and rough, close-set scales.— ns. Dab′ber , a sort of pad for dabbing ink on engraved wood blocks or plates; Dab′chick , a small water-fowl, a kind of grebe. [First about 1300; cf. Old Dut. dabben , to pinch; Ger. tappe , a pat. Confused with Daub and Tap .]