Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
dab, darb (nn.)
These slang words have somewhat similar meanings, but their etymologies are unclear, and they are apparently unrelated. A dab or a dab hand is British slang for someone who is an expert; darb is an Americanism probably nearly obsolete today, a slang word from the 1920s meaning “something or someone very handsome, valuable, attractive, or otherwise excellent.”
