Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Dab.

 Da Capo or D.C.Dab, Din, 
CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
 
Dab.
 
Clever, skilled, as “a dabhand at it”; a corrupt contraction of the Latin adeptus (an adept). “Dabster” is another form. Apt is a related word.
       
“An Eton stripling, training for the law,
A dunce at learning, but a dab at law [marbles].”
   1
       
Anon.: Logic: or, The Biter Bit
 


 Da Capo or D.C.Dab, Din, 

 
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