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# dibs

«dibs» in Mova's school dictionary: **A claim to have or do something first: if you say «Dibs…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun, plural only (slang: dibs; «dibs on»); interjection «Dibs!»

### meaning for a pupil

1) (slang) A claim to have or do something first: if you say «Dibs on the front seat!», you mean you get it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dibs/#m1)

2) (slang, UK, old) Money. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dibs/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In children's everyday life, «dibs» is said to claim a seat, the last biscuit or the first go; it works like «bagsy» in the UK and «shotgun» for the front car seat. In stories it shows children's playful arguing. Phrases: «dibs on», «I call dibs», «have dibs on».

### examples

- Dibs on the window seat! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dibs/#x1)
- I called dibs on the last slice of pizza. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dibs/#x2)
- You can't have it, Ellie already has dibs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dibs/#x3)
- Dibs on going first! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dibs/#x4)
- Who's got dibs on the top bunk? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dibs/#x5)
- He shouted «dibs!» before anyone else could. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dibs/#x6)

### note

Slang, mostly US, Canada, Australia; in the UK children often say «bagsy» instead. Always plural in form: «dibs», not «a dib». It is a game rule, not a real right, so it can cause arguments. Not used in formal writing.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «dibs» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dibs/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.