phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

A dab hand

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on October 26, 2009 at 19:23

In Reply to: A dab hand posted by Gerald on October 26, 2009 at 11:35:

: 'A dab hand'. I was led to believe was an old printing term for the mushroom shaped tool called a dab that the ink was applied to the the dab and onto the letters for the printer, if there were no gaps in the printing the person who applied the ink was thus a dab hand.

Unfortunately the earliest occurrence of the name "dab" or "dabber" for the printing tool is a good century later than the earliest occurrence of "dab" in the sense "One skilful or proficient at ( of, in) anything; an expert, an adept". Here is the OED entry for this sense:

"Appears before 1700; frequently referred to as school slang: origin unknown. Conjectures have been offered as to its being a corruption of adept, and of dapper, but without any other evidence than appears in the general likeness and use of the words. It is possible that it is a derivative of DAB v. - "To strike somewhat sharply and abruptly."

1691 Athenian Mercury IV. No. 3 Qu. 8 [Love is] such a Dab at his Bow and Arrows. a1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Dab, expert, exquisite in Roguery..He is a Dab at it, He is well vers'd in it. 1711 Vind. Sacheverell 83 The Dr. is charg'd with being a great Dab, as the Boys say, for he plays on Sundays. a1754 FIELDING Ess. Conversation Wks. 642 (To fetch a phrase from school..) great dabs of this kind of facetiousness. 1759 GOLDSM. Bee No. 1 A third [writer] is a dab at an index. 1845 THACKERAY Punch in the East iv, I wish to show I am a dab in history. 1874 HELPS Soc. Press. v. 69, I am 'a dab', as we used to say at Eton , at suggesting subjects for essays.

None of these examples relates in any way to dabbing with a printer's dab. It looks as though the "origin" you were told derives, as so many false etymologies do, from someone observing the resemblance between the name of some thing or process in their trade and some common word or phrase, and assuming they must be causally connected. (VSD)


© 1997 – 2024 Phrases.org.uk. All rights reserved.