dab vs pat

dab

noun
  • A soft tap or blow; a blow or peck from a bird's beak; an aimed blow. 

  • A small amount of hash oil. 

  • A small amount, a blob of some soft or wet substance. 

  • One skilful or proficient; an expert; an adept. 

  • A soft, playful box given in greeting or approval. 

  • A sand dab, a small flatfish of genus Citharichthys. 

  • A small flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae, especially Limanda limanda; a flounder. 

  • A hip hop dance move in which the dancer simultaneously drops the head while raising an arm, briefly resting their face in the elbow, as if sneezing into their elbow. 

adv
  • With a dab, or sudden contact. 

verb
  • To apply hash oil to a heated surface for the purpose of efficient combustion. 

  • To strike by a thrust; to hit with a sudden blow or thrust. 

  • To press lightly in a repetitive motion with a soft object without rubbing. 

  • To apply a substance in this way. 

  • To perform the dab dance move, by moving both arms to one side of the body parallel with your head. 

pat

noun
  • A light tap or slap, especially with the hands 

  • A flattish lump of soft matter, especially butter or dung. 

  • The sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep 

verb
  • To stroke or fondle (an animal). 

  • To hit lightly and repeatedly with the flat of the hand to make smooth or flat 

  • To (gently) tap the flat of one's hand on a person or thing. 

  • To gently rain. 

adv
  • Opportunely, in a timely or suitable way. 

  • Perfectly. 

adj
  • Exactly suitable, fitting, apt; timely, convenient, opportune, ready for the occasion; especially of things spoken. 

  • Trite, being superficially complete, lacking originality. 

How often have the words dab and pat occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )