dribs and drabs

dribs and drabs

Insignificant, skimpy, and/or piecemeal amounts. A: "Have you been able to get any work lately?" B: "Just some dribs and drabs to keep me ticking along, but nothing substantial."
See also: and, drab, drib
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

dribs and drabs

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.
See also: and, drab, drib
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

dribs and drabs

Small quantities. This phrase, dating from the early nineteenth century, consists of nouns that rarely appear elsewhere. Drib, originating in the early 1700s, probably alludes to “dribble” or “trickle”; drab has meant a petty sum of money since the early 1800s.
See also: and, drab, drib
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • drab
  • drib
  • in dribs and drabs
  • bit player
  • mere trifle
  • back street
  • not insignificant
  • be beside the point
  • beside the point
  • great oaks grow from small acorns
References in periodicals archive
The structure doesn't work-the film tries to tell us the story of what happened in 1983 in dribs and drabs, through a reenactment that keeps getting interrupted by Petrov's significantly less interesting road trip.
But against Salford everything was individual and in dribs and drabs. When you do that you don't get anywhere.
The Bank has offered us discounts of e1/422,000 and e1/466,000; these would not be deducted straight away from our highly inflated mortgages but essentially we would get it back in dribs and drabs over the remaining period of the mortgage.
No, I am not that good" Celebrity cook Prue Leith "If ever there were major corporations who deserve a fall because of their puffed-up vanity and self-serving ambition, it is internet giants like Facebook and their ilk" Former Labour Cabinet minister Jack Straw "If Andrew Mitchell had shown some humility, said he had lost his temper, and was not sure what he had said but was sorry, he would still be in the Government" Michael Fabricant, Tory MP and a former whip "The way it looks to me, short of a nationwide earthquake, is that we will have four dribs and drabs parties" Writer Frederick Forsyth, predicting another coalition after the next general election "Income inequality is the giant of our time, which we must slay" Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York
The owners are continuing to keep the club barely afloat by tossing it dribs and drabs of finance.
By adopting a controversial law on privatisation at the beginning of March, the Cypriot authorities paved the way for receiving these funds in dribs and drabs. Cyprus' aid plan runs until March 2016.
At a dress rehearsal hours before last night's gig, Melissa, who wants to sing professionally, said: "We are really really excited because it has been done in dribs and drabs and it is going to just come together for this one per-formance.
it's really quite hairy how it has taken off!"There are still a few 'dribs and drabs' to come in before we get the final total but I would like to thank everyone for their efforts."All of the money will be donated to the Bahrain Cancer Society to help with its research and assist local people who are suffering from this terrible disease.
In a document dated 15 October, the foundation stressed that selling its 33.5% bank stake in "dribs and drabs" would not be an option.
The announcements have come in dribs and drabs, but presented together recently here at the European Planetary Science Congress, they provide compelling evidence that Mars was quite wet in the distant past, CBS News reported.
From initially turning up in dribs and drabs, the oncoming summer months see the turbot arrival becoming a steady stream.
A1/2We wanted to be sure that we don't just talk about these in dribs and drabs. There's obviously a lot of action going in some of these cases,e Durrant said.
Starting at the Fuad Shehab Sport Stadium the crowds made their way along a designated route around town and arrived in dribs and drabs approximately
But if you also have dribs and drabs of income coming in from other sources, then if the worst happens you'll at least have those dribs and drabs.
I tend to buy it in dribs and drabs. I get all the T-shirts first and then the trousers.