"dribs and drabs" meaning in English

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        "2": "drab",
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        "4": "a small amount"
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      "expansion": "drab (“a small amount”)",
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  "etymology_text": "From drib (“a drop”) and drab (“a small amount”).",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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          "ref": "1823, William Cobbett, “Brewing Beer”, in Cottage Economy: […], new edition, London: Printed for J. M. Cobbett, […], →OCLC, paragraph 30",
          "text": "The tea drinking has done a great deal in bringing this nation into the state [of] misery in which it now is; and the tea drinking, which is carried on by \"dribs\" and \"drabs;\" by pence and farthings going out at a time; this miserable practice has been gradually introduced by the growing weight of the taxes on Malt and on Hops, and by the everlasting penury amongst the labourers, occasioned by the paper-money.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2020 November 18, Paul Bigland, “New infrastructure and new rolling stock”, in Rail, page 48",
          "text": "Passengers join in dribs and drabs along the way, but at Barnsley the numbers really began to swell and by Elsecar we have several standing.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
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        "A series of negligible amounts."
      ],
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        {
          "word": "bits and pieces"
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        {
          "word": "odds and ends"
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          "word": "hodgepodge"
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          "word": "drips and drabs"
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  "word": "dribs and drabs"
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "From drib (“a drop”) and drab (“a small amount”).",
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          "text": "The tea drinking has done a great deal in bringing this nation into the state [of] misery in which it now is; and the tea drinking, which is carried on by \"dribs\" and \"drabs;\" by pence and farthings going out at a time; this miserable practice has been gradually introduced by the growing weight of the taxes on Malt and on Hops, and by the everlasting penury amongst the labourers, occasioned by the paper-money.",
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  "synonyms": [
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      "word": "drips and drabs"
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  "word": "dribs and drabs"
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