Dribblen

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. To let liquid fall or flow in small, slow drops or a thin trickle
2. Describing the act of dripping or trickling a little at a time, as water does from a tap
3. Moving or falling in a thin, intermittent stream of droplets rather than in a steady flow

Etymology: Its core is the Germanic root behind "drip," which gives English "drip" and a family of related verbs across the North Sea languages. The ending on this form marks it as a frequentative, a verb for repeated small actions, so the sense is many little falls rather than one. Dutch "druppelen" and German "tröpfeln" share that pattern of drops falling one after another. The "-le" ending in English "dribble" works the same way, and its original sense was close to the verb's current meaning of falling in small, repeated drops. The spelling "dribblen" with a final "-en" follows the infinitive pattern of German and Dutch verbs, which is why it reads as a Continental form. Over time, the English sense of letting something run out in small amounts extended from liquids to other things, such as money or words, though the drop-by-drop image stayed central.