dauber
noun/ˈdɔːbə(ɹ)/
Etymology From Middle English daubere, equivalent to daub + -er.
1
Derogatory One who, or that which, daubs; especially, a coarse, unskillful painter.
- After he had exerted all his powers to produce a masterpiece of art, the canons, upon viewing the picture, pronounced it a contemptible performance, and the artist a miserable dauber; and Vandyck could hardly obtain payment for his work.1853, Shearjashub Spooner, Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 3 of 3), page 140:
- I want to be great, or nothing. I won't be a common-place dauber, so I don't intend to try any more.1869, Louisa May Alcott, Good Wives:
1 more example
- I'm not a good painter; I'm a dauber who can get a good likeness. Van Gogh or Cézanne would never have made it; I was given a bottle of Beaujolais and a set of directions.2015, Erich Maria Remarque, The Promised Land, Random House, →ISBN, page 412:
2
A pad or ball of rags, covered with canvas, for inking plates.
Copperplate printing
3
A type of thick marker pen used to mark a bingo card.
- Said she wasn't going but she went still / Likes her gentlemen not to be gentle / Was it a Mecca dauber or a betting pencil?2007, “Fluorescent Adolescent”, in Favourite Worst Nightmare, performed by Arctic Monkeys:
4
Archaic A low and gross flatterer.
5
The mud wasp; the mud dauber.
- Derived terms
- dirt-dauber