the.com/dab

means A small amount of something soft or moist, or a quick light touch — and more recently, a dance move where you drop your head into the crook of one bent arm while extending the other.

from The old sense of 'dab' — a light tap or a small lump — goes back to Middle English 'dabben,' meaning to strike with a soft blow, likely imitative of the sound and feel of a gentle pat (the same instinct that gave us 'dap' and 'tap'). The dance sense is far younger: it surged out of Atlanta's hip-hop scene in the mid-2010s, where 'to dab' or 'the dab' became a viral gesture, possibly tied to slang where 'dabbing' also referred to consuming cannabis concentrates — though that link is debated and the dance took on a life entirely its own.