Dibble vs Nibble - What's the difference?
dibble | nibble |
A pointed implement used to make holes in the ground in which to set out plants or to plant seeds.
To make holes, or plant seeds, using a dibble.
To dib or dip frequently, as in angling.
(slang) The police.
A small, quick bite taken with the front teeth.
(in the plural, nibbles) Small snacks such as crisps/potato chips or nuts, often eaten to accompany drinks.
To eat with small, quick bites.
* 2 November 2014 , Alex James in (The Guardian),
*:Giant parrots nibbled seed from the children's fingertips and my sister peeled a couple of satsumas for the lemurs.
* 1911 , (Rudyard Kipling), Big Steamers
*:"For the bread that you eat and the biscuits you nibble ,
*:The sweets that you suck and the joints that you carve,
*:They are brought to you daily by all us Big Steamers--
*:And if anyone hinders our coming you'll starve!"
To bite lightly.
To consume gradually.
* 11 May 2011 , Ann Carrns in The (New York Times),
*:A report out this week from the National Consumer Law Center lays out a host of ways in which banks nibble away at jobless benefits with fees the center called “junk.”
(computing) A unit of memory equal to half a byte, or four bits.http://foldoc.org/nibble
* 1993 , Richard E. Haskell, Introduction to computer engineering (page 287)
As a proper noun dibble
is .As a noun nibble is
a small, quick bite taken with the front teeth or nibble can be (computing) a unit of memory equal to half a byte, or four bitshttp://foldocorg/nibble.As a verb nibble is
to eat with small, quick bites.dibble
English
Etymology 1
, frequentative.Noun
(en noun)Synonyms
* (tool) dibberVerb
(dibbl)- (Walton)
Etymology 2
From the character of Officer Dibble in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series (Top Cat) .Noun
(-)- Watch out, lads! Here comes the dibble !
nibble
English
Etymology 1
Perhaps from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)Derived terms
* nibblyVerb
(nibbl)- The rabbit nibbled the lettuce.
The day I came face-to-face with a tiger
- He nibbled at my neck and made me shiver.
Prepaid Cards Subject Jobless to Host of Fees
Etymology 2
From nibble', punning on the homophony of '''byte''' and ' biteAlternative forms
* nybbleNoun
(en noun)- That is, the lower nibble (the 4 bits 1010 = A) has been masked to zero.