Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

dibble

/ˈdɪb(ə)l/ noun, verb, proper noun

Forms dibbles dibbling dibbled

  1. noun A pointed implement used to make holes in the ground in which to set out plants or to plant seeds.
  2. verb (transitive) To make holes or plant seeds using, or as if using, a dibble.
  3. verb (intransitive) To use a dibble; to make holes in the soil.
  4. verb (intransitive) To dib or dip frequently, as in angling.
  5. noun (slang, UK, originally Manchester, countable) A police officer, especially one serving with Greater Manchester Police.
  6. noun (slang, UK, originally Manchester, uncountable) Preceded by the: the police. “Watch out, lads! Here comes the dibble!”
  7. proper noun A surname originating as a patronymic.

Synonyms

dibbler dibber dib police officer police

Etymology

Possibly dib (“to dab lightly”) + -le (frequentative suffix indicating repetition or continuousness); however, the word dibble is attested earlier than dib.

From the character of Officer Charlie Dibble, a New York Police Department officer, in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Top Cat (first broadcast in the US in 1961, and in the UK in 1962 under the title Boss Cat).

From a Middle English form of the given name Theobald.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A pointed implement used to make holes in the ground in which no set out plants or to plant seeds.
  2. verb To dib or dip frequently, as in angling. Walton.
  3. verb To plant with a dibble; to make holes in (soil) with a dibble, for planting.
  4. verb To make holes or indentations in, as if with a dibble.

Etymology [See Dibble, v. i.]

Etymology [Freq. of Prov. E. dib, for dip to thrust in. See Dip.]

Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “dibble”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details