Meanings
alternative drips and drabs
- pluralplural onlyA series of negligible amounts.
Passengers join in dribs and drabs along the way, but at Barnsley the numbers really began to swell and by Elsecar we have several standing.
2020 November 18, Paul Bigland, “New infrastructure and new rolling stock”, in Rail, page 481 more example
The tea drinking has done a great deal in bringing this nation into the state [of] misery in which it now is; and the tea drinking, which is carried on by "dribs" and "drabs;" by pence and farthings going out at a time; this miserable practice has been gradually introduced by the growing weight of the taxes on Malt and on Hops, and by the everlasting penury amongst the labourers, occasioned by the paper-money.
1823, William Cobbett, “Brewing Beer”, in Cottage Economy: […], new edition, London: Printed for J. M. Cobbett, […], →OCLC, paragraph 30Synonyms: bits and pieces, odds and ends, bouillabaisse, bric-a-brac, catch-all, clamjamfrey, cocktail, rummage
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA series of negligible amounts.
Origin
From drib (“a drop”) and drab (“a small amount”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French au compte-goutte
- au compte-gouttea series of negligible amounts
Polish bambetle, pierdółki
- bambetlea series of negligible amounts
- pierdółkia series of negligible amounts
- drobiazgia series of negligible amounts
- bibelotya series of negligible amounts
Cite this entry
dribs and drabs. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dribs%20and%20drabs
“dribs and drabs.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dribs%20and%20drabs. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dribs and drabs,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dribs%20and%20drabs.
Source: dribs and drabs on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.