dub
/dʌb/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.64 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To confer knighthood; the conclusion of the ceremony was marked by a tap on the shoulder with a sword, the accolade.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "You promiſt Knighthood to our forward ſonne, / Vnſheath your ſword, and dub him preſently."
- "It occurred to him that he had not been dubbed a knight, and that according to the law of chivalry he neither could nor ought to bear arms against any knight; […]."
- "They tripped along the murky aisles with the rest of the company, visiting the familiar wonders of the cave—wonders dubbed with rather over-descriptive names, such as “The Drawing-Room,” “The Cathedral,” Aladdin’s Palace,” and so on."
- "As a matter of fact its narrow ornate façade presented not a single quiet space that the eyes might rest on after a tiring attempt to follow and codify the arabesques, foliations, and intricate vermiculations of what some disrespectfully dubbed as “near-aissance.”"
- "Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster."
- "Stephen reigned from 1135-1154, that nasty period of our history dubbed 'The Anarchy', when forces loyal to Stephen contested the throne with those of Henry I's daughter Matilda, who by rights should have been queen. Stephen, her cousin, plonked his own posterior on the throne."
Etymology
From Middle English dubben, from Old English dubbian (“to knight by striking with a sword, dub”) from Old French adober (“to equip with arms; adorn”) (also 11th century, Modern French adouber), both from Proto-West Germanic *dubbōn, from Proto-Germanic *dub- (“to hit, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“plug, peg, wedge”). Cognate with Icelandic dubba (in dubba til riddara). Compare also drub for an English reflex of the Germanic word.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: dubben, dubbian, adober, *dubbōn, *dub-, *dʰewbʰ-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /dʌb/
- British English: /dʌb/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Music.