cannabis concentrate
Variations
- dab
- dabbin'
- dabbage
Origin
Emerged alongside the butane hash oil (BHO) extraction boom of the early 2010s, when dispensary culture needed a word for the tiny gob of concentrate you touch to a heated nail. Nobody agrees on who coined it first, which tracks for a scene built on garage chemistry and enthusiastic imprecision.
Examples
Cultural context
Central to dab-rig culture and the broader shift from flower to concentrates as legalization matured; deploy freely among people who own a torch lighter, but expect a blank stare or a football-related tangent from anyone who thinks 'dab' is still a dance move.
dance move
Variations
- dab
- dabbing
- dab on 'em
Origin
The move surfaced in Atlanta's trap and hip-hop scene around 2014-2015, with rappers like Migos and Skippy Da Flippa credited as early adopters, though the exact first-dabber is as unverifiable as most dance-move origin myths.
Examples
Cultural context
Cam Newton's touchdown celebrations and a Silento hit shoved the dab into mainstream visibility, after which dads, politicians, and youth pastors did it until the internet declared it legally dead; now it survives mostly as a nostalgia bit or a deliberate joke about being uncool.
