dubbin

[ duhb-in ]

noun
  1. a mixture of tallow and oil used in dressing leather.

Origin of dubbin

1
1815–25; variant of gerund of dub1 (in the sense “rubbing or smoothing leather or wood”)

Words Nearby dubbin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use dubbin in a sentence

  • We don't polish steel, but there is a wonderful lot of hard work in rubbing dubbin into all the leather.

    In the Ranks of the C.I.V. | Erskine Childers
  • The final process was to give the field shoe a thorough coat of waterproof dubbin.

  • I love the smell of the leather and the sight of all those sharp little knives, and the black, shiny 'dubbin,' do you call it?

    Young Lives | Richard Le Gallienne
  • I only 'ad a little wound in me 'and, an' I used ter plug it wi' dubbin' an' boot-polish ter keep it raw.

    Combed Out | Fritz August Voigt
  • The dubbin is brushed thickly on to the flesh side of the sammed leather, which is then hung up to dry.

    Animal Proteins | Hugh Garner Bennett

British Dictionary definitions for dubbin

dubbin

dubbing

/ (ˈdʌbɪn) /


noun
  1. British a greasy mixture of tallow and oil applied to leather to soften it and make it waterproof

Origin of dubbin

1
C18: from dub to dress leather; see dub 1

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