Quote
1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.
“I call dibs on starring in a ‘Double Jeopardy’ remake. And ‘dibs’ on Twitter is legally binding.”
—Actress Anna Kendrick, speaking about future movie plans (Twitter)
Definition
1. Definition - Study the definition.
used to claim something as one’s own
2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.
Do you have any brothers or sisters? If so, you have probably experienced this situation: You both want something, but only one of you can have it. For example, imagine that there is only one piece of cake left. You and your brother both want it, but before you can say anything, he calls out, “Dibs on the last piece of cake!” Uh-oh. He beat you to it, and now you don’t get any more cake. The next time, you will have to call dibs first.
When people say “dibs,” they are claiming something as their own. For example, in a long road trip with friends, someone might call dibs on the front seat. If you are planning a party, someone might call dibs on cooking, while another person might call dibs on decorating. Notice that we usually use the verb call and the preposition on with this expression. If you want to claim something, you could say, “I call dibs on that,” or you could just say, “Dibs!”
Actress Anna Kendrick made a joke on Twitter. She wants to be in the remake of a movie called Double Jeopardy, so she called dibs on it.
When you are with your friends, do you ever call dibs on something?
Examples
1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.
“I’ve got dibs on that last piece of cake.”
“Alfonse has got dibs on that chair. You’ve got to sit on the floor.”
“I call dibs on the window seat on the plane! I want to see the ocean.”