Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary -- Volume DE

A scratch of her claw, a dab of her beak.
Hawthorne.

2. A small mass of anything soft or moist.

Dabb (db), n. (Zoöl.) A large, spine-tailed lizard (Uromastix spinipes), found in Egypt, Arabia, and Palestine; -- called also dhobb, and dhubb.

Dab"ber (dăb"br), n. That with which one dabs; hence, a pad or other device used by printers, engravers, etc., as for dabbing type or engraved plates with ink.

Dab"ble (dăb"b'l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dabbled (-b'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Dabbling (-b'lĭng).] [Freq. of dab: cf. OD. dabbelen.] To wet by little dips or strokes; to spatter; to sprinkle; to moisten; to wet. "Bright hair dabbled in blood." Shak.

Dab"ble, v. i.

1. To play in water, as with the hands; to paddle or splash in mud or water.

Where the duck dabbles 'mid the rustling sedge.
Wordsworth.

2. To work in slight or superficial manner; to do in a small way; to tamper; to meddle. "Dabbling here and there with the text." Atterbury.

During the first year at Dumfries, Burns for the first time began to dabble in politics.
J. C. Shairp.

Dab"bler (dăb"blr), n.

1. One who dabbles.

2. One who dips slightly into anything; a superficial meddler. "our dabblers in politics." Swift.

Dab"bling·ly (?), adv. In a dabbling manner.

Dab"chick` (dăb"chĭk`), n. [For dabchick. See Dap, Dip, cf. Dipchick.] (Zoöl.) A small water bird (Podilymbus podiceps), allied to the grebes, remarkable for its quickness in diving; -- called also dapchick, dobchick, dipchick, didapper, dobber, devil-diver, hell-diver, and pied-billed grebe.