dilbert
v. To cause a person to become bored or cynical about work.
Examples
2002
Can you imagine efficient private companies still working only with paper? How many man-hours must be dilberted away? How many delays? How many errors—or flat-out frauds?
—Editorial, “Man vs. Machine The old world meets the new,” The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, March 27, 2002
1998
It's been weeks since the article "La Salle Blues" appeared in this column and my e-mail is still drowning with messages exploding with reactions ranging from the angry to the asinine, amusing to the assholic. . . . The humorous ripple originally calculated to tickle some mirth into the office ennui of the Dilberted instead unleashed a vituperous tsunami.
—Argee Guevarra, “Future Tense,” BusinessWorld, February 09, 1998
1996 (earliest)
To a class that Adams refers to as worker bees, Dilbert and his creator are heroes. Beleaguered workers refer to the abuses inflicted upon them as "being Dilberted."
—James Romenesko, “Corporate Comic Relief,” Saint Paul Pioneer Press, June 20, 1996
Notes
This verb arises from a grammatical shift of the name of the "Dilbert" comic strip and/or its eponymous main character. The early citations for this new sense only quoted the definition, usually as part of some lame "figuring out geekspeak" article.
Posted: November 14, 1997