What are dribs?

[thetarrys]

I know what the saying 'dribs and drabs' means but what is the origin? 

[Jackanory]

Not having much luck tracing an origin.  Hope someone else comes up with something.  Wonder if it's a derivative of 'drips and drops'.

[Sludge]

Both drib and drab mean 'a small quantity or amount'; the phrase dribs and drabs, which first appears in the nineteenth century, means 'small and usually irregular amounts'. The earlier word is drib, which is first attested in the early eighteenth century. Drib is probably from driblet or dribble, both of which come from the verb drib 'to fall or flow in small amounts; trickle'; drib is probably an imitative sound of the noise or action and is a variant of drip.

[Kay]

All I know is that Drab was a colour brought out in Georgian times. Its was a dull clay shade and actually named Drab. Hence the saying " Oh this looks really drab".