Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

DRIB, n., v.¹ Also †dribb.

1. n. A drop, a small quantity of liquid or semi-liquid (Bnff.², Abd.², Fif.¹⁰ 1940); the last drops or dregs in the distilling of whisky. Also fig. In pl. = dregs. Also in n.Eng. dial.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems 346:
That Mutchken Stoup it hads but Dribs.Abd. c.1820 Innes Review VII. ii. 90:
There was aye the last drops ca'ed the drill [sic], which was pitten back among the new stuff i' the pot.Abd. 1868 W. Shelley Wayside Flowers 97:
I lent my frien' a pickle gowd, The dribbs o' hainin's aff my fee.Fif. 1823 W. Tennant Card. Beaton 83:
For dogging preachers all the country round From ditch to ditch to catch a drib of Gospel.Edb. 1773 R. Fergusson Poems (1925) 31:
Nae body takes a morning dribb O' Holland gin frae Robin Gibb.Gsw. 1877 A. G. Murdoch Laird's Lykewake 126:
It's no that much I had, but jist the dribs 'o twa gill stoups.Dmf. 1821 Blackwood's Mag. (Jan.) 403:
She wad make ye a drib buttered gruel, and have aye something cozie and warm for ye whan ye daundered hame at gloaming.Slk. 1844 W. Crozier Cottage Muse (1847) 48:
Wi' dribs o' milk and bags o' meal.

Phr.: dribs and drabs, small amounts, driblets (Edb.⁵ 1940). Also in Eng. dial.Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl. Ant. and Dwn.:
He pays it in dribs and drabs.

2. v. To “strip” a cow, to extract the last drops of milk from a cow's udder (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 42; Bnff.², Abd.² 1940). Also in Yks. and Nhp. dial. Vbl.n. dribbings, “the last milk that can be drawn out of a cow's udder” (Kcb. 1827 Curriehill).Abd. 1891 T. Mair Arn and His Wife 72:
Gae back upo' the russet coo, An' drib her whan ye're deen.Abd.⁷ 1925:
Usually young girls are taught to milk cows by setting them to “drib”, after the older females have taken all the milk that comes freely.