Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A pointed gardening implement used to make holes in soil, especially for planting bulbs or seedlings.
  • transitive verb To make holes in (soil) with a pointed implement.
  • transitive verb To plant by means of a pointed implement.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To dip or let the bait fall gently into the water, as in angling.
  • To plant with a dibble, or to make holes in for planting seeds, etc.; make holes or indentations in, as if with a dibble.
  • noun A pointed tool, often merely a short, stout, pointed stick, used in gardening and agriculture to make holes in the ground for planting seeds or bulbs, setting out plants, etc.
  • noun A planting implement which carries the seed in the handle and drops it from the point by means of a slide, when inserted in the earth.
  • noun A pair of wheels drawn by a horse, and furnished with cogs which make holes for seed: used in cotton-planting.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To dib or dip frequently, as in angling.
  • noun A pointed implement used to make holes in the ground in which no set out plants or to plant seeds.
  • transitive verb To plant with a dibble; to make holes in (soil) with a dibble, for planting.
  • transitive verb To make holes or indentations in, as if with a dibble.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A pointed implement used to make holes in the ground in which to set out plants or to plant seeds. Also known as a dibber.
  • noun slang the police or one or more police officers (from the character of Officer Dibble in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Top Cat)
  • verb To make holes, or plant seeds, using a dibble.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make a hole with a wooden hand tool
  • noun a wooden hand tool with a pointed end; used to make holes in the ground for planting seeds or bulbs
  • verb plant with a wooden hand tool

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English dibbel.]

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