Word.ws English Dictionary

dub

UK/dʌb/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/dɐb/

dub verb: to confer knighthood; the conclusion of the ceremony was marked by a tap on the shoulder with a sword, the accolade. Also the clipping of double-u.

Verb (1)

dub (third-person singular simple present dubs, present participle dubbing, simple past and past participle dubbed)

  1. (transitive, now historical or ceremonial) 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.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
    • It occurred to him that he had not been dubbed a knight, and that according to the law of chivalry he neither could nor ought to bear arms against any knight; […].1885, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, chapter II, in John Ormsby, transl., The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha […] In Four Vols, volume I, London: Smith, Elder & Co. […], →OCLC, part I...
    Synonyms:
    knight
  2. (informal, transitive) 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.1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC
    • As a matter of fact its narrow ornate façade presented not a single quiet space that the eyes might rest on after a tiring attempt to follow and codify the arabesques, foliations, and intricate vermiculations of what some disrespectfully dubbed as “near-aissance.”1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter V, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
  3. (transitive) To deem.
    • A man of wealth is dubbed a man of worth.1733–1737, Alexander Pope, [Imitations of Horace], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley [et al.]
  4. To clothe or invest; to ornament; to adorn.
    • His diadem was dropped down / Dubbed with stones.1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], (please specify the book number), [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC...
  5. To dress with an adze.
    • to dub a stick of timber smooth
  6. To strike cloth with teasels to raise a nap.
    • For dressing or dubbing cloths, either wet or dry, otherwise than by green cards and pickards1808, Annual Register
  7. To rub or dress with grease, as leather in the process of currying it.
    • When the skin is thoroughly cleansed, and while yet in its wet and distended state, the process of stuffing, or dubbing (probably a corruption of daubing), is performed. Both sides of the skin, but chiefly the flesh side, are smeared or daubed with a mixture of cod-oil and tallow1852-1866, Charles Tomlinson, Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts and Manufactures
  8. To dress a fishing fly.
    • if you can dub a Fly of the exact colour of the Natural Fly, Fish at that instant take, it's sufficient1689, James Chetham, The Anglers Vade Mecum
  9. To prepare (a gamecock) for fighting, by trimming the hackles and cutting off the comb and wattles.

Verb (2)

dub (third-person singular simple present dubs, present participle dubbing, simple past and past participle dubbed)

  1. To make a noise by brisk drumbeats.
    • Now the drum dubb's.1616–1619 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Mad Lover”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act I, scene i
  2. To do something badly.
  3. To execute a shot poorly.

Noun (1)

dub (plural dubs)

  1. (rare) A blow, thrust, or poke.
    • And kettle-drums, whose sullen dub
      Sounds like the hooping of a tub1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished...
  2. A poorly executed shot.

Noun (2)

dub (plural dubs)

  1. (historical, slang) An unskillful, awkward person.
    • As I came over the hill, I saw Ernest Plinlimmon and his partner, in whom I recognized a prominent local dub, emerging from the rough on the right. Apparently, the latter had sliced from the tee, and Ernest had been helping him find his ball.1936, P. G. Wodehouse, There's Always Golf, London: The Strand Magazine
    • The miser, a-seeking lost gelt, / The doughboy, awaiting the battle, / May possibly know how I felt / While the long years dragged by as the dealer / As slow as the slowest of dubs, / Stuck out the last helping of tickets / 'Till I lifted—the Bullet of Clubs!1969, Robert L. Vann, The Competitor, volumes 2-3, page 135

Verb (3)

dub (third-person singular simple present dubs, present participle dubbing, simple past and past participle dubbed)

  1. To add sound to film or change audio on film.
  2. To make a copy from an original or master audio tape.
  3. To replace the original soundtrack of a film with a synchronized translation
  4. To mix audio tracks to produce a new sound; to remix.

Noun (3)

dub (countable and uncountable, plural dubs)

  1. (countable) A mostly instrumental remix with all or part of the vocals removed.
  2. (uncountable) A style of reggae music involving mixing of different audio tracks.
    • It’s also burnished by intriguing sense of vaguely dub-influenced space. At one point, it breaks down to little more than a stabbing, echoing organ with a vintage reggae flavour.2020 April 23, Alexis Petridis, “The Rolling Stones: Living in a Ghost Town review – their best new song in years”, in The Guardian
  3. (uncountable) A trend in music starting in 2009, in which bass distortion is synced off timing to electronic dance music.
    • But I think my bass playing is definitely dub-influenced.2019 January 18, Jamie Dickson, “Khruangbin: “We’re not intending to create war with our music… It’s the absence of that aggression that a lot of rock bands have””, in Music Radar
    • Dyl’s polyrhythmic grooves on The Subsurface Project fuse dub techno and drum & bass, mixing modular sounds with hints of warm, jittery jungle.2020 July 20, Arun Chakal, “The Worked-Up Sound of Drum & Bass in Russia and Eastern Europe”, in Bandcamp Daily
  4. (countable, slang) A piece of graffiti in metallic colour with a thick black outline.
    • […] we climbed up the scaffolding and did these gold little dubs and you couldn't see them.2001, Nancy Macdonald, The Graffiti Subculture, page 84
    • The year 1998 was alive with graffiti and trains pulling up with dubs on their sides.2011, Justin Rollins, The Lost Boyz: A Dark Side of Graffiti, page 34
  5. (countable) The replacement of a voice part in a movie or cartoon, particularly with a translation; an instance of dubbing.
    Synonyms:
    voice acting

Noun (4)

dub (plural dubs)

  1. (UK, dialectal) A pool or puddle.
    • “Has he nae friends?” said she, in a tearful voice.
      “That has he so!” cried Alan, “if we could but win to them!—friends and rich friends, beds to lie in, food to eat, doctors to see to him—and here he must tramp in the dubs and sleep in the heather like a beggarman.”1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC

Noun (5)

dub (plural dubs)

  1. (slang) A twenty-dollar sack of marijuana.
  2. (slang) A wheel rim measuring 20 inches or more.
    • When I pull up out front, you see the Benz on dubs.2003 January 7, “In da Club” (track 5), in Get Rich or Die Tryin', performed by 50 Cent

Verb (4)

dub (third-person singular simple present dubs, present participle dubbing, simple past and past participle dubbed)

  1. (UK, obsolete, transitive, thieves' cant) To open or close.
    • "Crash the cull—down with him—down with him before he dubs the jigger. Tip him the degan, Fib, fake him through and through; if he pikes we shall all be scragged."1828, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, chapter LXXXIII, in Pelham: or The Adventures of a Gentleman, page 402

Noun (6)

dub (plural dubs)

  1. (UK, obsolete, thieves' cant) A lock.
  2. (UK, obsolete, thieves' cant) A key, especially a master key; a lock pick.
    • […]going upon the dobbin, is a woman dressed like a servant maid, no hat nor cloak on, a bunch of young dubs by her side, which are a bunch of small keys[…]1789, George Parker, Life's Painter of Variegated Characters in Public and Private Life, page 162

Noun (7)

dub (plural dubs)

  1. (Internet) A win.
    • I haven't had a dub in a few games.

Noun (8)

dub (plural dubs)

  1. (India, historical) A small copper coin once used in India.

Noun (9) capitalized: Dub

Dub (plural Dubs)

  1. (Ireland, colloquial) A Dubliner.
    • There is a distinction between Dubliners on the one hand and "rednecks" on the other. […] The Dubs historically went to Liverpool and Birmingham, so they don't have the connections.1993, Mary P. Corcoran, Irish Illegals: Transients Between Two Societies, page 138
    • I did the Pat Kenny show one night and talked about coming from the bottom up, and I got numerous letters, saying to hear somebody with a Dub accent running the brewery was unbelievable.1994, Patrick O'Dea, A Class of Our Own: Conversations About Class in Ireland, page 51

Proper noun capitalized: Dub

Dub

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of University of Dublin, used especially following post-nominal letters indicating status as a graduate.

Noun (10) capitalized: DUB

DUB (uncountable)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of dysfunctional uterine bleeding.

Also used as

dub is also the clipping of double-u.

dub meaning in Marathi, Bengali, Telugu and Malayalam

dub in Marathi

डबिंग करण्यासाठी, डब करण्यासाठी

dub in Bengali

ডাব করার জন্য, ডাব করতে, ডাবিং করতে

dub in Telugu

డబ్ చేయడానికి, డబ్ చెయ్యడానికి, డబ్బింగ్ చేయడానికి

dub in Malayalam

ഡബ്ബ് ചെയ്യാൻ, ഡബ് ചെയ്യാൻ, ഡബിംഗ് ചെയ്യാൻ
More languagesFewer languages
dub in Kannada
ಡಬ್ ಮಾಡಲು, ಡಬ್ಬಿಂಗ್ ಮಾಡಲು
dub in Gujarati
ડબ કરવા માટે, ડબિંગ કરવા
dub in Odia
ଡବ୍ କରିବା
dub in Nepali
डब गर्न, डबिङ गर्न
dub in Arabic
اِنْتَسَخَ intasaḵa, نَسَخَ nasaḵa, دَبْلَجَ dablaja, داب dāb
dub in Malay
menyuara, mengalih suara
dub in Thai
พากย์ pâak
dub in Vietnamese
lồng tiếng

Examples of dub in a sentence

  • Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, archived from the original on 31 Oct 2020, page...
  • It reminded me of that classic Full Cycle vibe of jazzy soulful sounds blending with dub bass and fx.2020 August 3, Kane, “The Extended Cut: Zero T - Former Self EP [The North Quarter]”, in Magnetic Magazine:

All 40 example sentences with dub

Synonyms of dub

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of dub

Forms of dub

Verb
third-person singular presentdubs
present participledubbing
past participledubbed
pastdubbed
Noun
pluraldubs

Past tense of dub: dubbed

Plural of dub: dubs

Origin of dub

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.

1505-1515

1885-90. Imitative; see also flub, flubdub.

Words formed from dub

Phrases with dub

Words that rhyme with dub

14 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about dub

What does dub mean?
Dub means to confer knighthood; the conclusion of the ceremony was marked by a tap on the shoulder with a sword, the accolade.
What is dub in Marathi?
Dub in Marathi is डबिंग करण्यासाठी, डब करण्यासाठी. See Dub meaning in Marathi.
How do you use dub in a sentence?
Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.
What part of speech is dub?
Dub can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce dub?
Dub is pronounced /dʌb/ (UK).
What is the past tense of dub?
The past tense of dub is dubbed.

Words near dub in the dictionary

  1. duathlete
  2. duathletes
  3. duathlon
  4. duathlons
  5. duats
  6. dub
  7. dub out
  8. dub over
  9. dub plate
  10. dub plates
  11. dub poetry

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dub (page history and authors); Dub (page history and authors); DUB (page history and authors); dub (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dub (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dub (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dub (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dub (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dub (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dub (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dub (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-dub.ogg.

Cite this entry: “dub.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dub. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.