1) A regional word for patches of water, ranging from rain puddles to deep pools in a river or stream.
A perambulation of the liberty of Ripon in 1481 took the walkers past le Frier dub. It was a common element in minor place-names in the north-west of the county and neighbouring parts of Westmorland and Cumberland, and examples there date from the thirteenth century. The term was used especially for the pools in which hemp was rated, and the evidence suggests that streams were deliberately dammed for the purpose: 1611 Christopher Preston, for makeinge a rating dubb in the syke between Airton and Scoshrop
1636 land at the towne end of Kylnsey and 1 rating dubbe
1673 one little Cottage or firehouse ... and one hempe dub thereunto belonging, Hanlith. Others dubs were for catching fish or washing sheep: 1562 the said damme callid Marigge Stelling dubbe at the headde of Bradehowebecke ... the saide damme or dubbe, Marrick. The word survived into the modern period and in 1986 a Leeds class-member remembered using it for puddles in the road. Emigrants from Swaledale spoke of the Atlantic ocean as ‘the gert dub’.
2) A verb. To dub a cock was to trim its comb and wattles (OED).
1718 the cocks at Bryan Methley want dubbing, Barnsley.