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🗣️ To report someone 🗣️ An informer 🟡 A small amount 🟡 To put a little
to dob

to dob

1 9.9
To tell a teacher or adult that someone broke the rules
  • verb
  • /dɒb/
  • Slang
translation icon : chivarse (informal, Esp.)
  • Not to dob the poor bugger in, but the gang rape comment was a response to another poster who had already made the point, and that entire paragraph was a parody of yet another commenter's "argument."

Examples

  • Miss Heidi, I know you're a real star and all that... but... I'm afraid I'm going to have to dob you in.

    Meet the Feebles (1989)

  • Why don't we just call up the pigs and dob ourselves in.

    Four Lions (2010)

  • Scared that I'd dob you in, scared you'd lose your job and there'd be a public outcry.

    The Butterfly Tree (2017)

  • I had to dob in my neighbor for repeatedly breaking the noise regulations.

  • If you see someone cheating, it's important to dob them in to maintain a fair environment.

  • The teacher asked the students to dob in anyone who was caught breaking the school rules.

Synonyms

to report
vsto dob
686 1.6

To tell someone in authority that a person has broken a rule or law

focuses on informing authorities about wrongdoing rather than neutral events
to blow the whistle
vsto dob
37 5.1

To tell the authorities or the public about wrongdoing

focuses on private informing to authority rather than public exposure
to shop
vsto dob
  • Informal
12 8.0

To tell the police or a manager that someone did something wrong

is more general, applying to telling authorities not only about crimes
to dob in
vsto dob
  • UK
1 9.9

To tell the police or a teacher that someone did something wrong

is the same but uses the shorter form without the particle

Antonyms

to defend
∞ 1.3

To protect people and things from attack or harm

Phrasal Verbs

to dob in
  • UK
1 9.9

To tell the police or a teacher that someone did something wrong

How Betraying

to betray
397 4.2
to dob
  • Slang
1 9.9
to inform
41 6.8
to tell on
  • Informal
35 4.4
mention
220 2.5

Surface Forms

dob infinitive
dobbed past
dobbed past participle
dobing present participle
dobs third person singular

Etymology

Dob as a verb comes from the slang phrase dob in, meaning 'to tell on' someone in Britain and Australia. So to dob someone in is to report them to an authority for breaking a rule.