tabnab
English edit
Etymology edit
Nautical slang of obscure origin. Attested from the 20th century. Compare nab and possibly table.
Noun edit
tabnab (plural tabnabs)
- (slang, British, Navy) A small item of food offered at break times, normally the morning break.
- 1928, Malcolm Lowry, “The Cook In The Gallery”, in The Collected Poetry of Malcolm Lowry, UBC Press, published 1992, page 39:
- He comes outside when weather's fine / To hang his singlets on the line, / And then returns - he needs no bell - / The scouse, or Sunday's duff to share; / The stokers tabnabs need his care; / The sea sounds far away in there, / Ssssssssh, like the hush in a conch-shell.
References edit
- John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “tabnab”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.
- Michael Quinion (November 7, 2009) “Tabnabs”, in World Wide Words.