dub

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to confer knighthood or damehood to someone

   I was dubbed by the monarch.

2. 2
   verb

   To confer knighthood; the conclusion of the ceremony was marked by a tap on the shoulder with a sword, the accolade.

   You promiſt Knighthood to our forward ſonne, / Vnſheath your ſword, and dub him preſently.

3. 3
   verb

   To name, to entitle, to call.

   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.

4. 4
   verb

   To deem.

   A man of wealth is dubbed a man of worth.

5. 5
   verb

   To clothe or invest; to ornament; to adorn.

   His diadem was dropped down / Dubbed with stones.

6. 6
   verb

   To strike, rub, or dress smooth; to dab.

   to dub a stick of timber smooth

7. 7
   verb

   To make a noise by brisk drumbeats.

   Now the drum dubb's.

8. 8
   noun

   A blow, thrust, or poke.

   And kettle-drums, whose sullen dub Sounds like the hooping of a tub

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.