Dribbing

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. The act of repeatedly bouncing or controlling a ball with small taps or light touches in sports like basketball or soccer ; dripping or letting small drops of liquid fall in a steady sequence ; the process of slowly allowing a liquid to flow in tiny amounts, often deliberately or accidentally
2. The continuous action of skillfully moving a ball by touching it lightly while keeping control ; the natural falling of small droplets from a surface or container ; the management of releasing fluid in controlled, minor increments
3. Performing the motion of softly pushing or flicking a ball to maintain possession during play ; the gentle succession of drops falling gradually ; the controlled, steady release of a liquid in minute portions over time

Etymology: "Dribbing" is the form of "drib," which the source traces to dialectal English and to a sense of "drib" as a variant of "drip." Its more likely ancestor is Middle English "drepen," meaning "to hit, strike, slay," which came from Old English "drepan" and the Proto-Germanic "*drepaną," "to hit, strike." The word "drib" is a dialect variant of "drub," a related word for beating, so the basketball sense of repeatedly bouncing a ball grew from an idea of striking the ball downward. The source also offers a second possibility: "drib" as a variant of "drip," the idea of small drops falling. Both routes fit the modern sense of a ball rhythmically bouncing, one from the force of a blow, the other from the image of falling drops, and the two accounts are not fully settled.

Synonyms: bouncing, maneuvering, dodging, controlling, handling

Antonyms: losing, dropping