dibs

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /dɪbz/
• Rhymes: -ɪbz

Etymology 1

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

Noun

dibs (uncountable)

1. (informal) A claim to the right to use or enjoy something exclusively or before anyone else.

   Dibs means I get the hammock.

   Who's got dibs on the chips?

   • 2011 March 23, “We asked mayoral candidates: Do you support 'dibs' on parking spots?”, Chicago Sun-Times:

     Del Valle has the blessing of a garage, so he doesn't have to claim “dibs” on shoveled street spots himself, he said.

   • 2012 February 16, “Our View: Public Employees Bill of Rights Act all wrong”, Appeal-Democrat:

     It aims to give unionized California government workers "more workplace discipline protections and first dibs on state government work," as the Sacramento Bee put it.

Synonyms

• bags (Australia)

Derived terms

• first dibs

Translations

a claim to the right to use or enjoy something exclusively or before anyone else

• Danish: helle for (da)
• French: prems (fr) m, preums (fr) m (Switzerland, Belgium) prims (fr), (Canada) shotgun
• Hungarian: stipistop (hu)
• Icelandic: pant (is)

• Russian: чур (ru) (čur)
• Serbo-Croatian: pik (sh) m
• Swedish: pax (sv), tjing (sv)

Verb

dibs (third-person singular simple present dibses, present participle dibsing, simple past and past participle dibsed)

1. To claim a temporary right to (something); to reserve.

Synonyms

• (to reserve): bagsy (UK), bags (Australia)

Etymology 2

Noun

dibs (uncountable)

1. (dated) A sweet preparation or treacle of grape juice, much used in the East.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnston to this entry?)

Etymology 3

Noun

dibs

1. Plural form of dib
2. (obsolete) A child's game, played with dib bones.

Anagrams

• bids