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Meaning of dob in English:

dob

Pronunciation /dɒb/

Translate dob into Spanish

verbverb dobs, verb dobbing, verb dobbed

[with object]

  • 1dob someone inAustralian, New Zealand informal Inform against someone.

    • ‘Helen dobbed me in to Mum’
    • ‘At least I wont have to worry about Phil dobbing me in anymore.’
    • ‘He says no one will tell him exactly how he got caught, but someone must have dobbed him in.’
    • ‘He says there are too many spies about and too many people who will dob you in for money.’
    • ‘Trust me, when these restrictions get tightened tomorrow, there will be no shortage of people queuing up to dob her in.’
    • ‘It works as a great deterrent for graffiti artists - they just never know who could dob them in, so they tend to stop.’
    denounce, give away, betray, incriminate, inculpate, report, tell the authorities about, tell the police about
    1. 1.1dob onno object Inform on; betray.
      ‘He was summoned before the committee and fined for dobbing on a workmate but refused to pay.’
      • ‘How are we going to work together as a community rather than dobbing on each other and isolating each other.’
      • ‘He's in the prison, he's dobbing on his prison mates, on other inmates, and he's very scared for his life.’
      • ‘They must think my brother is pretty cool for not dobbing on me.’
      • ‘Water wasted by householders is but a gnat's whatsit compared to the huge volumes that are wasted by the water companies - dobbing on your neighbour isn't going to solve anything’
      break one's promise to, be disloyal to, be unfaithful to, break faith with, play someone false, fail, let down

  • 2dob something inAustralian, New Zealand informal Contribute money to a common cause.

    • ‘everyone dobbed in a few dollars’

  • 3dob someone inAustralian, New Zealand informal Impose on someone to do something.

    • ‘I dobbed him in to do the cleaning’

Origin

1950s figurative use of dialect dob ‘put down abruptly’, later ‘throw something at a target’.