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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Dabble \Dab"ble\ (d[a^]b"b'l), verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Dabbled} (d[a^]b"b'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Dabbling} (d[a^]b"bl[i^]ng).] [Freq. of dab: cf. OD. dabbelen.] To wet by little dips or strokes; to spatter; to sprinkle; to moisten; to wet. ''Bright hair dabbled in blood.'' --Shak.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Dabble \Dab"ble\, verb (used without an object)
1. To play in water, as with the hands; to paddle or splash in mud or water.
Where the duck dabbles 'mid the rustling sedge. --Wordsworth.
2. To work in slight or superficial manner; to do in a small way; to tamper; to meddle. ''Dabbling here and there with the text.'' --Atterbury.
During the first year at Dumfries, Burns for the first time began to dabble in politics. --J. C. Shairp.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
dabble
verb
1: dip a foot or hand briefly into a liquid
2: play in or as if in water, as of small children [syn: {paddle}, {splash around}]
3: work with in a non-serious manner; "She dabbles in astronomy"; "He plays around with investments bu he never makes any money" [syn: {smatter}, {play around}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
96 Moby Thesaurus words for "dabble": asperge, be innocent of, bedabble, bedew, beguile the time, bespatter, besprinkle, burn daylight, consume time, coquet, coquet with, dally, damp, dampen, dash, dew, diddle, dip, doodle, douche, fiddle, fiddle with, fiddle-faddle, fidget with, finger with, flirt, fool, fool around, fool with, footle, fribble, fritter away time, frivol, give up, have no idea, horse around, hose, hose down, humect, humectate, humidify, idle, irrigate, jerk off, kid around, kill time, know a little, know not, know not what, know nothing of, loiter, lose time, mess around, moisten, monkey, monkey around, not know, not rightly know, paddle, pass, pass the time, piddle, play, play around, play with, potter, putter, scratch the surface, slobber, slop, slosh, smatter, sparge, spatter, splash, splatter, splotch, sponge, spot, spray, sprinkle, swash, syringe, tinker, toy, toy with, trifle, trifle with, twiddle, waste time, water, wet, wet down, wonder, wonder whether, wot not of
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