Definitions

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

  • noun plural A claim; rights.
  • noun plural Money, especially in small amounts.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A thick molasses or syrup made in Syria by boiling down grape-juice; also, syrup or honey of dates.

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

  • noun A sweet preparation or treacle of grape juice, much used in the East.
  • noun A small amount of money.
  • noun A right or claim, such as the right of use, or of first choice.

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

  • noun dated A sweet preparation or treacle of grape juice, much used in the East.
  • noun informal A claim to the right to use or enjoy something exclusively or before anyone else.
  • verb To claim a temporary right to (something); to reserve.
  • noun Plural form of dib.
  • noun obsolete A child's game, played with dib bones.

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

  • noun a claim of rights

Etymologies

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

[Short for dibstones, counters used in a game, probably from obsolete dib, to tap.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Since the early 19th century, of disputed origin. Most commonly thought to be from dibstones ("counters used in a game with the same name"). Also from dib ("to tap") or related to northern English dip ("small depression in the ground"), or a shortened version of divide

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