dab

“We don’t want to live in fear, so we make ourselves useful working for organizations that move the scale away from fear and put us smack dab in the middle of love.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2025

He passed Ponting with a trademark dab through point.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2025

We’re smack dab in the middle of 2010 again.

From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2025

Mencken, who was a dab hand at writing with great verve about how much he hated just about everything.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2024

Then he has the audacity to use my grandmother’s dashiki to dab his mouth before collapsing in bliss.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

Sand dabs and halibut, still edible and plentiful there, were held in a net slung under the hull and served moments later.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2025

Adapting to the slowness of the pitch, he played none of his trademark dabs to third man, instead pouncing to whip through the leg side any time England dropped short.

From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2024

Martha Stewart doesn't do warts, but Cutler edits a wry irony into the artful coverage she dabs on her blemishes, like her refusal to count her marital infidelity as equivalent to that of her husband.

From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2024

His voice was firm, doling out dabs of sweetness cut with the occasional thrilling yelp.

From New York Times ● Apr. 26, 2023

Then she dabs iodine on my cuts and I try to be a man and not whimper.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt

In another, a grey-haired woman laid one hand atop the coffin while she dabbed her eyes with a tissue.

From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026

Root dabbed, cut and guided to the third man fence.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026

In the rear open kitchen, Manon Fleury turned humble winter produce into memorable dishes: Fried sweet-potato threads mimicked a mini funnel cake, dabbed with loquat jam.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026

He pulled a white hanky from his breast pocket and dabbed away a tear after a prolonged embrace from his daughter, Ashley, who delivered a loving introduction.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2024

He dabbed at it and smiled fleetingly out from the screen.

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

We see through her eyes an assistant dabbing moisturizer on her hand, art installers asking where she wants a large sculpture, a man cleaning her pool who greets her.

From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2026

“He never told anyone what to say,” she said, occasionally dabbing her eyes with a tissue as she spoke.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2025

"You have given him the best birthday gift he could ever have," she said, dabbing away tears and occasionally pausing to collect herself.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2025

In the courtroom, Giles’ mother, wearing a “Christy’s Mom” shirt, and several other women who showed up in support of the victims could be seen hugging and dabbing their eyes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2025

“I can do no more,” she said, dabbing at her mouth.

From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck