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dribs and drabs

plural noun

  1. small and usually irregular amounts:

    He repaid the loan in dribs and drabs.



dribs and drabs

/ drɪbz /

plural noun

  1. small sporadic amounts
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Idioms and Phrases

Bits and pieces, negligible amounts, as in There's not much left, just some dribs and drabs of samples . The noun drib is thought to be a shortening of driblet , for “drop” or “tiny quantity,” dating from the early 1700s, whereas drab meaning “a small sum of money” dates from the early 1800s.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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