Slang and its analogues, 2 | Project Gutenberg

1880. Punch’s Almanack, p. 3. Got the doldrums dreadful, that is clear. Two d left! must go and do a beer!

2. (common).—A detective; among thieves, a policeman. For synonyms, see Beak and Nark.

1879. Thor Fredur, Sketches from Shady Places. Still I play Shoeblack odd times. I have a few friends among the d’s (detectives), who give me the job to watch a house occasionally.

To use a big d, verbal phr. (common).—‘To swear’; the ‘d’ stands for ‘damned.’

1878. Gilbert and Sullivan, Her Majesty’s Ship ‘Pinafore.’ ‘What, never use a big, big D?’

1890. H. D. Traill, Saturday Songs, p. 3. Do we fight the senseless duel, do we sling the big, big d, No; our strongest word is ‘Bother,’ and revolvers all we see.

The two d’s, phr. (military).—Army regulations enact that a soldier’s pay must not be so docked in fines as to leave him less than two-pence a day. Hence, if a man, from any cause, is put on short pay, he is said to be ‘on the two d’s.’

Dab, subs. (colloquial).—1. An expert; a dabster. [Thought to be a corruption of ‘adept’ (Latin adeptus); a dep; a dap; a dab.] Cf., ‘dabbler,’ one who meddles without mastery; a superficial meddler. Fr., dab, dabe, or dade.

1733. Letter of Lord Chesterfield to Lady Suffolk, 17 Aug. [Suffolk Correspondence, 1824, ii., 64.] … known dabs at finding out mysteries.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Dab (s.) … also an expert gamester is so called [also 1754, Martin, Eng. Dict. (2 ed.), s.v.].

1759. Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 1. One writer, for instance, excels at a plan or a title-page, another works away the body of the book, and a third is a dab at an index.

1849. J. D. Lewis, in Whibley, p. 231. When Hicks, who’s no dab, with his oar cuts a crab, And our coxswain he swears like the devil.

1860. Dickens, Great Expectations, ch. xlii., p. 200. He was a smooth one to talk, and was a dab at the ways of gentlefolks.

1823. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act iii., Sc. 3. Mace:… Vhen ve’ve had the liqvor, ve’ll kick up a reel, and all go to our dabs.

1745. Walpole to Mann, ii., 53. The Count may have procured for her some dirty dab of a negotiation about some acre of territory more for Hanover.

Adj. (colloquial).—1. Clever; skilled; expert.—See subs., sense 1. Fr., avoir le ponce long, or rond, i.e., ‘to have a long or round thumb.’

2. (back slang).—Bad. A dabheno, a bad market, day, or sale, Doogheno = a good day, etc.; dab tros = a bad sort.

1877. Diprose, London Life. I’ve been doing awful dab with my tol (lot) or stock, have’nt made a yennep (penny).

Rum-dabe, subs. (old).—The same as dab, subs., sense 1. [Rum (q.v.) is Old Cant for ‘good.’]

Dab down, verbal phr. (common).—To pay; hand over; to ‘post’ or ‘shell out’ (q.v. for synonyms).

To dab it up [with a woman], verbal phr. (old).—To pair off; to agree to cohabitation.

Dabster, subs. (colloquial).—An expert or dab (q.v.).

1877. J. Greenwood, Dick Temple, ch. iii. ‘Not in the least like the performance of an amateur dabster,’ remarked Jack Mallet, admiringly. ‘Much more like the work of an old master for style and finish.’

Dace, subs. (old).—Two-pence; in America, two cents. [From ‘deuce.’]

Dacha-Saltee, subs. (thieves’ and vagrants’).—A franc; or tenpence English. [From the Italian dieci soldi.]—See Saltee.

1861. Reade, Cloister and Hearth, ch. lv. What with my crippledom and thy piety, a wheeling of thy poor old dad, we’ll bleed the bumpkins of a dacha-saltee.

Dad-Binged (also -Blamed, -Fetched), -Gasted, -Goned, -Rotted, or -Snatched, ppl. adj. (American).—Half veiled oaths; ‘whips to beat the devil round the stump.’ [Dad is a corrupted form of ‘God,’ which, with other forms, (Dod-, Dog-, etc.), is found in various combinations, as above.] For synonyms, see Oaths.

1887. Scribner’s Magazine. ‘Dadgum ye!’ cried Jeff, irritably, ‘whut—by grabs, hit’s a human critter!’

1888. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, p. 122. A chile er two, mo ’er less, warn’t no consekens to Sollermun, dad-fetch him. Ibid. ‘Why, Mars Tom, I doan want no rats. Dey’s de dad-blamedest creturs to ’sturb a body … I ever see.’

Dad-Dad, Mum-Mum or Daddy-Mammy, subs. phr. (military).—A beginner’s practice on the drum.

Daddle, subs. (common).—The hand; or fist. To tip the daddle, to shake hands. For synonyms, see Bunch of fives, to which may be added the following lists:—

English Synonyms. Chalk-farm; claw; clutch; cornstealer; duke; fam; famble; feeler; fin; flapper; flipper; forceps; forefoot; fork; grappling-iron or [246]hook; goll (old); oar; paddle; palette; paw; plier; shaker; wing; Yarmouth mitten.

French Synonyms. Les abatis or abattis (popular: a term applied to both hands and feet; properly giblets); l’agrafe (common; hook or clasp); la croche (thieves’: properly a quaver; possibly influenced by croc = hook, grapnel, or drag; an allusion to the hooked appearance of the musical note); la cuiller (popular: literally a spoon); les brancards (popular: this expression, like abatis, is also used of the feet; properly = shafts, as of a cart); l’arguemine (thieves’); le battoir (popular: properly a washerwoman’s ‘bat’); un gigot (popular: a large, thick hand, a ‘mutton fist’); le grappin; les harpions (also = feet).

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. to Cong., p. 23. From this to the finish, ’twas all fiddle-faddle, Poor Georgy, at last, could scarce hold up his daddle. Ibid. With daddles high uprais’d, and nob held back, In awful prescience of th’ impending thwack.

1827. Scott, Two Drovers, ch. ii. Ah, this comes of living so long with kilts and bonnets—men forget the use of their daddles.

1842. Punch, vol. III, p. 136. And her daddle link’d in his’n gone to roam as lovers use.

1849. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. v. ‘Tip us your daddle, my boy,’ said the second speaker.

Daddy, subs. (general).—1. The superintendent of a casual ward; generally an old pauper.

1886. Graphic, 10 April, p. 399. The manager himself is sometimes known as the ‘gorger,’ and daddy is the stage-manager.

3. (common).—A confederate of ‘workers’ of mock raffles, lotteries, etc.; generally the person selected to receive the prize.

Daddyism, subs. (American).—Pride of birth.

1871. Kate Field, in Harper’s Bazaar, Aug. An Eastern man commending the services of a young Philadelphian to a Chicago tradesman, said: ‘He comes of a very good family; his grandfather was a distinguished man.’ ‘Was he?’ replied the man of Chicago. ‘That’s of no account with us. There’s less daddyism here than any part of the United States. What’s he himself.’

Daffy or Daffy’s Elixir, subs. (common).—Gin. [From a popular medicine sold as early as the beginning of the eighteenth century: see advertisements (1709), in Ashton’s Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne, i., pp. 7, 8: now known as ‘Tincture of Senna.’] For synonyms, see Drinks.

1821. The Fancy, vol. I., p. 304. While carrying on his new vocation of publican, Jack did not deny himself the use of drops of daffy.

1841. Leman Rede, Sixteen-String Jack, Act i., Sc. 2. Take some daffy to the back parlour.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, IV., 430. When I goes in where they are a havin’ their daffies—that’s drops o’ gin, sir.

1871. London Figaro, 15 April. [If the baby] should bawl persistently … he would … thoroughly dose it with daffy.

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., 193. They had low foreheads, and wore big buttonholes, for so they termed the flowers, it was ‘the thing’ to wear. A good many of them, too, had been partaking freely of daffy. [247]

Daffy-Down-Dilly, subs. (old).—A dandy; one ‘got up regardless.’ For synonyms, see Dandy.

1841. Leman Rede, Sixteen-String Jack, Act i., Sc. 2. Bob: I’m here, my daffy-down-dilly!

Dagen, subs. (old).—An ‘artful member.’ [From dagen, a sword or dagger.] For synonyms, see Downy cove. Dagger = the penis.

Dagger-Cheap, adj. phr. (old).—‘Dirt’ cheap. [From an ordinary of low repute in Holborn, notorious for the coarseness of its entertainment.—See Jonson’s Alchemist, v., 2, and Devil is an Ass, i., 1.]

1631. Bishop Andrewes, Sermons (posthumous). We set our wares at a very easy price; he (the devil) may buy us even dagger-cheap, as we say.

Dags, subs. (common).—A feat; a performance or work, e.g., I’ll do your dags = an incitement to emulation. [From dag, the old Saxon form of ‘day.’ Darg for a day’s work is common in Scotland. A love-darg is a day’s free help given to a farmer by his neighbours.]

1879. Notes and Queries, 5 S., xii., 15 Aug., p. 128. ‘I’ll do you (or your) dags.’ An expression used by children of young, and sometimes of older, growth, meaning, ‘I’ll do something that you cannot do.’

1886. Fun. He was very fond of what, in schoolboy days, we used to call doing dags.

Daily Levy, subs. (journalistic).—The Daily Telegraph. [This London daily was established by Mr. Edward Levy Lawson.]

Dairy, subs. (common).—The paps. To air the dairy = to expose the breast.

English Synonyms. Bubs or bubbies; charlies; blubber; butter-boxes; butter-bags; berkeleys; cat-heads; diddies; globes; dugs; milk-walk; milk-shop; milky way; dumplings; udder (Browning); ‘Nature’s founts’; feeding bottles; ‘charms’; hemispheres; apple-dumpling shop; meat market; poonts; titties; cabman’s rests (rhyming); baby’s bottom.

French Synonyms. Les avantages (familiar); l’avant-cœur (popular = the fore-heart; as l’avant-bras = the fore-arm); l’avant-main; les avant-scènes (properly that goes before; the front of a stage); les avant-postes (literally, the outposts); l’oranger (popular = the orange-tree. Cf., des oranges sur l’étagère); les nénais or nénets (popular); deux œufs sur le plat (common); le monzu or mouzu (Old Cant); des blagues à tabac (popular = tobacco-pouches); des bessons (common = twins); une étagère or un étal (properly a butcher’s stall; étalage = goods exposed for sale; Cf., étaler sa marchandise = to wear a low-necked dress); la doublure de la pièce (popular); devant de gilet (popular: un gilet à la mode = well-developed paps); une livraison de bois devant sa porte (popular); le ragoût de la poitrine (ragoût = pleasure, poitrine = breast); la mappe-monde (popular: literally a map of the two hemispheres); les nichons (familiar); il y a du monde au balcon (said of one with large paps); les bossoirs (sailors’; gabarit sans bossoirs = thin or withered paps); les calebasses (= gourds); les éclaireurs (popular: scouts); des gibasses (popular: skinny paps); des œufs sur la place d’armes (popular). [248]

Spanish Synonyms. Balso-peto (m; properly = a large pouch carried near the breast); chiche or chichi (f; a Mexican vulgarism); pechera (f; also = a stomacher or frill on the bosom of a shirt).

Daisies, subs. (general).—Boots. Cf., Daisy-roots, and for synonyms, see Trotter-cases.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 503. While waiting for my pal I had my daisies cleaned.

To turn up one’s toes to the daisies.—To die. For synonyms, see Aloft and Hop the twig.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (Babes in the Wood). Be kind to those dear little folks When our toes are turned up to the daisies.

Daisy, subs. (American).—A man or thing first-rate of a kind. Also equivalent to Dandy, subs., sense 4.

c. 1876. Broadside Ballad, ‘Mrs. Brady’s Daughter.’ She’s such a daisy, she sets me crazy.

1888. Denver Republican, May. Jack Dempsey is beyond compare a pugilistic daisy.

1890. Rudyard Kipling, Fuzzy Wuzzy, in Scots Observer, iv., p. 439, col. 1. ’E’s a daisy, ’e’s a ducky, ’e’s a lamb.

1889. Puck’s Library, April, p. 7. Big scene of boats ascending Nile cataracts—new sensation, never done before—and chance for daisy effects in the desert.

Daisy Beat.—See under Beat.

Daisy-Beaters.—See Creepers.

Daisy-Cutter, subs. (common).—1. A horse whether good or bad. Also daisy-kicker. Fr., un rase-tapis.

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. iii. I should like to try that daisy-cutter of yours upon a piece of level road (barring canter) for a quart of claret at the next inn.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood. Song, ‘The Game of High Toby.’ But what daisy-cutter can match that black tit.

1866. C. Reade, Griffith Gaunt, ch. i. Others galloped uselessly about pounding the earth, for daisy-cutters were few in those days.

2. (cricket).—A ball which travels more than half the ‘pitch’ along the ground without rising; a ‘sneak.’ Wykehamicè, ‘a ramrod.’—See Grub.

Daisy-Kicker, subs. (old).—1. A horse. Cf., Daisy-cutter and Grogham. For synonyms, see Prad.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 48. The hostler then says, ‘He has a choice nag or daisy-kicker to sell or swap.’

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 39. Daisy-kickers are Hostlers belonging to large inns; and are known to each other by this name.

Daisy-Roots (rhyming slang).—Boots. Also daisies. For synonyms, see Trotter-cases. Fr., des salaires.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 501. I piped [saw] three or four pair of daisy-roots (boots).

To pick a daisy, verbal phr. (common).—To evacuate in the open air; also, to retire to make water. [249]

Daisyville, subs. (thieves’).—The country. Also deuseaville.

Italian Synonyms. Longa (literally = an expanse); polverosa (literally = dusty); graziosa (literally = graceful).

1622. Head and Kirkman, ‘Canting Song.’ This Doxie Dell can cut bien whids, And drill well for a win; And prig and cloy so benshiply, All the deusea-vile within.

Dakma, verb (thieves’).—To silence.

Dam. Not to care or be worth a dam, phr. (common).—To care or be worth nothing. [The dam or dawm is an Indian coin worth barely the fortieth part of a rupee.] Cf., Care and Fig.

Damage, subs. (colloquial).—The cost of anything; the sum total in the sense of recompense. ‘What’s the damage?’ ‘what’s to pay?’ also What’s the swindle? (q.v.). [An allusion to damages at law.]

b. 1788, d. 1824. Byron [quoted in Annandale]. Many thanks, but I must pay the damage and will thank you to tell me the amount of the engraving.

1852. H. B. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. xiv. Well, now, my good fellow, what’s the damage, as they say in Kentucky; in short, what’s to be paid out for this business.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 576. When he wishes to know what he has to pay, he asks, What’s the damage? or not so charitably, What’s the swindle?

Damaged, ppl. adj. (common).—Drunk; screwed (q.v. for synonyms).—See Drinks.

Damber, subs. (old).—A man, cove, or cull belonging to the fraternity of vagabonds. For synonyms, see Cove.

Damme, Dammy or Dammy-Boy, subs. (old).—A sixteenth and seventeenth century roysterer; a blustering fellow. [So called from the excess to which swearing was carried by the rakes of the day.]

1654. Witts, Recreations. To valiant dammee. Dam-me, thy brain is valiant, ’tis confest; Thou more, that with it every day dar’st jest Thy self into fresh braules; but call’d upon, With swearing dam-me, answer’st every one. Keep thy self there, and think thy valour right, He that dares damne himself, dares more than fight.

1687. Cleveland, Works. Depriver of those solid joys, Which sack creates; author of noise Among the roaring punks and dammy-boys.

Dam Nasty Oath, subs. phr. (American).—A corruption of amnesty oath. [Southerners, at the close of the Civil War, were required, as an outward sign of submission to the Union, to subscribe to certain conditions, upon which a free pardon was granted. The terms were deemed unpalatable—hence dam nasty oath.]

Damned-Soul, subs. (old).—A Customs House clearing clerk. [Because to avoid perjury he was alleged to have taken a general oath never to swear truly in making ‘declarations.’] [Lexicon Balatronicum, 1811.]

Damp (Generally, something damp), subs. phr. (common).—[250]A drink; or ‘go’ (q.v. for synonyms).

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxvii., p. 228. ‘So we’ll just give ourselves a damp, Sammy.’ Saying this, Mr. Weller mixed two glasses of spirits and water, and produced a couple of pipes.

Damper, subs. (thieves’).—1. A till or ‘lob.’ Drawing a damper = robbing a till, i.e., ‘lob-sneaking.’

2. (tailors’).—A sweater; one who takes as much as possible out of workmen for a minimum of pay.

7. (Australian).—Unleavened bread made of flour and water and baked in thin cakes, in a frying pan or on a flat stone in wood ashes.

1885. G. A. Sala, in Daily Telegraph, 3 Sept., p. 5, col. 5. They got enough flour from Sydney to make their dampers.

1886. G. Sutherland, Australia, p. 77. They must at least receive a ‘pannikin’ of flour and be allowed to bake it up into a piece of damper at the cooking fire.

Damp One’s Mug, verbal phr. (common).—To drink. For synonyms, see Lush.

Damp-Pot, subs. (tailors’).—The sea; specifically the Atlantic. For synonyms, see Briny and Puddle.

Damp the Sawdust, verbal phr. (licensed victuallers’).—To ‘crack a bottle’ with friends ‘for luck’ on starting a new ‘house.’

Damson-Pie, subs. (Black Country).—A Birmingham and ‘black country’ term for ‘Billingsgatry.’

1888. W. Black, Strange Adv. of House Boat, ch. viii. Even if you were to hear some of the Birmingham lads giving each other a dose of damson-pie … you wouldn’t understand a single sentence.

Dance, subs. (thieves’).—A staircase or flight of steps. A contraction of the older form—dancers. [Ducange Anglicus, 1857.]

Verb (old).—1. To be hanged. Also to dance upon nothing and to dance the Paddington frisk. Fr., danser une danse où il n’y a pas d’plancher and faire la bénédiction du pied en l’air. For synonyms, see Ladder.

1839. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, ch. xxxi. ‘My limbs feel so light, now that my irons are removed,’ he observed with a smile, ‘that I am half inclined to dance.’ ‘You’ll dance upon nothing, presently,’ rejoined Jonathan, brutally.

1840. Hood, Miss Kilmansegg. Just as the felon condemned to die, With a very natural loathing, Leaving the sheriff to dream of ropes, From his gloomy cell in a vision elopes To a caper on sunny greens and slopes Instead of the dance upon nothing.

1864. Daily News, 2 Dec. Another synonym for being hanged is dancing on nothing in a hempen cravat.

2. (printers’).—Type dances if letters drop out when the forme is lifted. [251]

Dance of Death, subs. phr. (old).—Hanging. Cf., Dance, verb, sense 1.

Dancers, subs. (thieves’).—1. Stairs; a flight of steps. Fr., les grimpants.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 52 (1874). Track up the dancers, go up the stayres.

1847. Lytton, Lucretia, pt. II., ch. vii. ‘Bob, track the dancers. Up like a lark—and down like a dump.’ Bob grinned … and scampered up the stairs.

1858. Lytton, What will he do with it? bk. III., ch. xvi. Come, my Hebe, track the dancers, that is, go up the stairs.

2. sing. (thieves’).—Also dancing master. A thief whose speciality is prowling about the roofs of houses and effecting an entrance through attic and upper storey windows; a garreteer (q.v.). [In allusion to dexterity of walk.] For synonyms, see Area-sneak.

Dancing-Master, subs. (old).—1. A species of Mohock or dandy, temp. Queen Anne. [Who made his victims caper by running his sword through the legs; for detailed description, see Spectator (1712), No. 324.] For list of synonyms, see Dandy.

D and D, phr. (police).—‘Drunk and disorderly’ (in connection with charge sheet cases). A synonym is Lushy and Stropolus.

1889. Answers, 2 March, p. 218, col. 1. Last New Year’s Day he took over 14s. to my certain knowledge, for the old man was up for d and d, trying to break a window with his broom.

Dander, subs. (colloquial).—Anger. To raise one’s dander or Get one’s dander up or riz = to make or get angry. [Derivation uncertain; provincial in several English counties.]

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxi., p. 223. I do my duty; and I raise the dander of my feller critters, as I wish to serve; … they rile up rough, along of my objecting to their selling Eden off too cheap.

1848–62. J. Russell Lowell, Biglow Papers. Wut’ll make ye act like freemen? Wut’ll git your dander riz?

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. xliii. Don’t talk to me about daring to do this thing or t’other, or when my dander is up, it’s the very thing to urge me on.

1863. Punch, 7 Feb. If John Bull had riz our dander, Settin’ foot on yonder shore, Then we should have holler’d grander Than the broad Atlantic’s roar.

1872. Chamb. Journal, 14 Dec., p. 791. They knew he’d never find out who did it, for he was in such an awful dander.

Dandered, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—Angry; ‘mad.’

1890. H. D. Traill, Saturday Songs, ‘The Precipitate Grandmother,’ p. 30. Whose way of tackling dandered snakes Is to perpitiate the critters With hominy an’ buckwheat cakes And pumpkin-squash an’ apple fritters.

Dando, subs. (common).—A great eater; a glutton; specifically a sharper who subsists at the expense of hotels, restaurants, or oyster bars. [From one dando, a ‘bouncing, seedy swell,’ hero of a hundred ballads, notorious for being ‘charged’ at least twice a month with bilking.] [252]

18(?). Thackeray, The Professor. ‘What a flat you are,’ shouted he in a voice of thunder, ‘to think I’m agoing to pay! Pay! I never pay—I’m Dando.’

1850. Macaulay, Journal in Life, by Trevelyan, ch. xii., p. 539 (1884), April 27.—To Westbourne Terrace, and passed an hour in playing with Alice.… I was dando at a pastry cook’s and then at an oyster shop.

1885. Ill. London News, 15 Aug., p. 154, col. 3. One day we are told that the couplet should be:—Oysters, you’ll find, are best by far In every month which ends with an r. Next day this is pooh-poohed, and we are to read, instead:—Oysters, you’ll find, are best by far In every month which contains an r. Spiritualists might be kind enough to consult dando, who would, no doubt, have the true version at his finger’s ends, so as to rap it out on the instant.

Dandy, subs. (formerly slang, now recognized).—1. A fop; a coxcomb; a man who pays excessive attention to dress. The feminine forms, ‘dandilly’ and ‘dandizette,’ did not ‘catch on.’ Dandy was first applied half in admiration, half in derision to a fop about the year 1816. John Bee (Slang Dict., 1823) says that Lord Petersham was the chief of these successors to the departed Macaronis, and gives, as their peculiarities, ‘French gait, lispings, wrinkled foreheads, killing king’s English, wearing immense plaited pantaloons, coat cut away, small waistcoat, cravat and chitterlings immense, hat small, hair frizzled and protruding.’ In common English dandy has come to be applied to such as are neat and careful in dressing according to fashion. [From dandy-pratt (q.v.).]

English Synonyms. Beau; blade; blood; buck; chappie; corinthian; count; court-card; cheese; daffy-down-dilly; dancing-master; dude; dundreary; exquisite; flasher; fop; gallant; gommy; gorger; Jemmy Jessamy; Johnny; lounger; macaroni; masher; mohawk; nerve; nicker; nizzie; nob; oatmeal; scourer; smart; spark; sweater; swell; toff; tip-topper; tumbler; yum-yun.

French Synonyms. Un gandin (popular = a frequenter of the old Boulevard de Gand); un gommeux; un mouchard; un mouget; un petit maître; un talon-rouge (from the red heels worn in the seventeenth century); un incroyable (a ‘swell’ of the Directoire period, as also un merveilleux); un mirliflore (an allusion to millefleurs, a favourite perfume); un muscadin; un élégant; un dandy; un lion; un fashionable; un cocodès; un crevé; un petit crevé; un col-cassé; un luisant; un poisseux; un boudiné; un pschutteux; un exhumé; un gratiné; un faucheur; un bécarre; un daim; un excellent bon; un fade; un fadard; un gilet en cœur; un muguet (properly lily of the valley. Cf., daffy-down-dilly).

1818. Carlyle, in Early Letters (Norton), vol. I., p. 158. When I walk along the streets, I see fair women … and fops (dandies as they are called in current slang), shaped like an hour-glass—creatures whose life and death, as Crispin pithily observes, ‘I esteem of like importance, and decline to speak of either.’

1821. Coombe, Syntax, Wife, c. iv. I met just now, upon the stairs, A dandy in his highest airs.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 2 S., ch. viii. Great dandy was Mr. Bobbin; he looked just as if he had come out of the tailors’ hands.

1847. Lytton, Lucretia, pt. I., ch. i. What is now the dandy was then [1780] the Buck. [253]

1866. W. D. Howells, Venetian Life, ch. xx. He is a dandy, of course,—all Italians are dandies,—but his vanity is perfectly harmless, and his heart is not bad.

2. (thieves’).—A bad gold coin. [In allusion to its careful make and composition, this coin containing a certain proportion of pure gold.]

1883. Jas. Greenwood, Tag, Rag, and Co., p. 24. It is not in paltry pewter ‘sours’ with which the young woman has dealings, but in dandys, which, rendered into intelligible English, means imitation gold coin—half-sovereigns and whole ones.

1838. Blackwood’s Mag., May, ‘Father Tom and the Pope.’ ‘Dimidium cyathi vero apud Metropolitanos Hibernicos dicitur dandy.’

1883. Hawley Smart, Hawkins, ch. vi. It’s beautiful punch—ah, well, as you’re so pressing, I’ll just take another dandy.

1888. Superior Inter-Ocean. Dr. H. Conner has invested in a fine piece of horse-flesh. The animal was purchased in Oshkosh, and has a record of 3′37. It is said to be a dandy.

1888. St. Louis Globe Democrat, 21 Jan. My box ain’t no good mister, but I know a feller over dere dat’s got de dandy one.

1888. Missouri Republican, 2 Feb. I’m a terror from Philadelphia, and I can lick any man in the world. I’m a dandy from away back; the farther back they come the dandier they are, and I come from the furthest back.

The dandy, adv. phr. (common).—All right; ‘your sort’; ‘the ticket.’ Cf., Dandy, sense 4. A north-country song has the line, ‘The South Shields lasses are The Dandy O!’

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxvi. I guess our great nation may be stumped to produce more eleganter liquor than this here. It’s the dandy, that’s a fact.

1884. Notes and Queries, 6 S., ix., p. 35. I not long since heard a carpenter whose saw did not cut, wanting, as he expressed it, ‘to be sharpn’d,’ and who took up another in better condition, say, ‘Ah! that’s the dandy.’

Dandy-Master, subs. (thieves’).—The head of a gang of counterfeiters; who makes the coin, but does not himself attempt to pass it. [From dandy, subs., sense 2, + master.]

1883. Greenwood, Tag, Rag, and Co. The spirits obtained being mostly bottled and labelled, and unopened, find a ready sale at public-houses known to the dandy-master, so that no serious loss is experienced in that direction.

Dandypratt or Dandipratt, subs. (old).—Primarily a dwarf; a page; by implication a jackanapes. In all likelihood, the etymon of the modern ‘dandy,’ erroneously derived from the French dandin = a fool, as in Molière, Georges Dandin. [From dandipratt, a half farthing of the time of Henry VII.]

1580. Lingua, or the Five Senses, O. Pl., v., 172. This Heuresis, this invention, is the proudest Jackanapes, the pertest, self-conceited boy that ever breathed; because, forsooth, some odd poet, or some such fantastic fellows, make much on him, there’s no ho with him; the vile dandiprat will overlook the proudest of his acquaintance.

1622. Massinger, Virgin-Martyr, II., i. The smug dandiprat smells us out, whatsoever we are doing.

1657. Middleton, More Dissembler besides Women, Anc. Dr., IV., 372. There’s no good fellowship in this dandiprat, this divedapper [didapper], as in other pages.

1706. R. Estcourt, Fair Example, Act iii., Sc. 3, p. 40. Boy. A candle, sir! ’tis broad daylight yet. Whims. What then, you little dandiprat? If we have a mind to a candle we will have a candle. [254]

1821. Scott, Kenilwortht, ch. xxvi. It is even so, my little dandiprat, but who the devil could teach it thee.

Dang it! phr. (provincial).—A euphemism for ‘damn it!’ Also Dang my buttons! and Dang me!

Danglers, subs. (thieves’).—A bunch of seals.

1859. Matsell, Rogues Lexicon, p. 124. And where the swag, so bleakly pinched, A hundred stretches hence? The thimbles, slang, and danglers filched, A hundred stretches hence?

Dan Tucker, subs. phr. (rhyming slang).—Butter. For synonyms, see Cart-grease.

Darbies, subs. (common).—1. Handcuffs. [Origin uncertain. Father Derby’s name (he is supposed to have been a noted usurer) was already proverbial in 1576, but that is all now known of him.]

English Synonyms. Black-bracelets; buckles; Father derbie’s bands; ruffles; wife; snitchers; clinkers; government securities; twisters; darbies and joans (= fetters coupling two persons).

French Synonyms. Les alliances (popular = wedding rings); une bride (thieves’ = a convicts’ chain); le bouclage (thieves’: also = imprisonment); une cadenne (thieves’: applied to a neck-chain); un cabriolet (thieves’ = a small rope or strap); une guirlande (a chain for two).

1576. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, I., 787. To binde such babes in father derbie’s bands.

1592. Greene, Quip for an Upstart Courtier (Harl. Misc., V., 405). Then hath my broker an usurer at hand, as ill as himself, and he brings the money; but they tie the poor soul in such darbies’ bands [i.e., bonds], what with receiving ill commodities [i.e., goods in lieu of cash], and forfeitures upon the bond, that they dub him ‘Sir John had Land,’ before they leave him; and share, like wolves, the poor novice’s wealth betwixt them as a prey.

1602. Carew, Survey of Cornwall, p. 15 (ed. 1769). [Speaking of the hard dealings and usurious tricks of the marchant Londoners in their dealings with the Cornish tinners of his day, this writer tells the wiles by which the poor wretches became bound ‘in darbye’s bonds.’]

1676. Canting Song, ‘A Warning for Housekeepers.’ But when that we come to the Whitt, Our darbies to behold.

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress p. 77. Thus a new set of darbies, when first they are worn, Makes the jail-bird uneasy, though splendid their ray.

1836. Marryat, Japhet, ch. lvii. We may as well put on the darbies, continued he, producing a pair of handcuffs.

1890. Standard, 7 April, p. 6, col. 3. (Addressing the officer): Didn’t you take me by the scruff of the neck, and hold me whilst others put the darbies on me?—I did not.

Darble, subs. (old).—The devil. [A corruption of French diable.]

Darby, subs. (old).—Ready money. [One Derby is supposed to have been a noted sixteenth century usurer.—See quots. under Darbies, sense 1.] For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

c. 1712. R. Estcourt, Prunella, Act i., p. 4. Come nimbly lay down darby; Come, pray sir, don’t be tardy.

Darby Allen, subs. phr. (Lancashire).—Cajolery; ‘chaff’; ‘gammon.’

Darby-Roll, subs. (old).—A gait peculiar to felons of long standing: the result of long shackles-wearing. Cf., Baker-kneed.

Darby’s-Dyke, subs. (old).—The grave; also death.

Darby’s-Fair, subs. (old).—The day of removal from one prison to another for trial.

Dard, subs. (old).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick.

Dark. To get the dark, verbal phr. (prison).—To be confined in the punishment cell.

Dark-Cull or Cully, subs. (old).—A married man with a secret mistress.—[Grose, 1785.]

Dark-Horse or Dark’un, subs. (turf).—A horse whose pace is unknown to the backers; figuratively, a candidate about whom little is known.

1831. Disraeli, Young Duke, ch. v., p. 66 (ed. 1866). All the ten-to-oners were in the rear, and a dark horse, which had never been thought of, and which the careless St. James had never even observed in the list, rushed past the grand stand in sweeping triumph.

1853. Diogenes, vol. II., p. 271. Farewell! oh, farewell to the lists On whose varying prices I’ve hung; I care nought for the dark-horse that lives Unknown, who shall put me all right.

1884. Hawley Smart, Post to Finish, ch. i. He had beaten everything that was going to oppose him, with the exception of some two or three dark colts, of which little was expected.

Dark-House, subs. (old).—A mad-house. Shakspeare (All’s Well, etc., ii., 3) used it to denote the seat of gloom and discontent.

Darkmans, Darks, Darky, subs. (old).—The night; also twilight.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 84. Bene Lightmans to thy quarromes, in what lipken hast thou lypped in this darkemans, whether in a lybbege or in the strummell?

1667. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candlelight. ‘Canting Rithmes.’ Enough—with bowsy Cove Maund Nace, Tour the Parting Coue in the darkeman’s Case.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxviii. I think we should be down upon the fellow, one of these darkmans, and let him get it well.

1857. Punch, 31 Jan. ‘Dear Bill, this Stone Jug.’ And at darkmans we run the rig just as we please.

German Synonyms. Mittelaile (midnight); Choschech, Chauschech, or Koschech (from the Hebrew choschach = a moonless night); Eref (specifically the eve of a Sabbath or festival); Fichte (literally a fir-tree); Ratt (Gypsy); Schwärze = (the black ’un); Zofon or Zofen (from Hebrew zophan = to hide).

Italian Synonyms. Bruna or brunora (Fr. brune); materna (properly = the maternal).

Darkman’s Budge, subs. phr. (old).—A housebreaker’s confederate, who slips into a house during the day, hides there, and opens the door at night.—[Grose, 1785.]

Darky, or Darkey, subs. (old).—1. A dark lantern; a bull’s eye.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Stow the darkee and bolt, the cove of the cub is fly.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 124. Bless your eyes and limbs, lay out a mag with poor Chirruping Joe. I don’t come here every darkey.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 216. We could average our ‘duey bionk peroon a darkey,’ or two shillings each, in the night.

1878. C. Hindley, Life and Times of Jas. Catnach. The cleanest angler on the pad in daylight or the darkey.

1840. Dana, Two Years before the Mast, ch. xvii. Tom Cringle says that no one can fathom a negro’s affection for a pig; and I believe he is right, for it almost broke our poor darky’s heart when he heard that Bess was to be taken ashore.

1870. Negro Hymn. Walk in, darkies, troo de gate; Hark, de kullered angels holler; Go ’way, white fokes, ye’re too late, We’s de winnin’ kuller! Wait, Till de trumwet blow to foller!

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 594. I wish de legislatur’ would set dis darkie free, Oh! what a happy place den de darkie land would be; We’d have a darkie Parliament An’ darkie codes of law, An’ darkie judges on the bench, Darkie barristers and aw’.

Darn, Darned, verb and ppl. adj. (colloquial).—Euphemistic forms of ‘damn’ and ‘damned’; used to avoid ‘cussing bar’-foot.’ Also darnation, dangnation, darn burn it, and darn or dash my buttons or wig.—See Dadbinged and Oaths for synonyms.

c. 1840. West of England Ballad [quoted in Literary World, 11 Apr., 1890, p. 347, col. 1]. But if he’d know’d he’d got so much money He darned his buttons if he’d gi’ed ’un the shillin’.

1880. G. R. Sims, Zeph and other Stories, p. 87. I shall bring you to your senses, Bess, now, my girl, and you won’t be so darned fast refusin’ a good offer.

1888. Harper’s Magazine. My experience has taught me that in Colorado the man who tells the first story has a darned poor show.

Dart, subs. (pugilistic).—A straight-armed blow.

D.A.’s, subs. (general).—The menstrual flux. [An abbreviation of domestic afflictions (q.v.) and for synonyms see Flag-up.]

Dash, subs. (old).—1. A tavern waiter.

2. (common).—A small quantity; a ‘drink’; a ‘go’ (q.v. for synonyms). Also a small quantity of one fluid to give a flavour to another, e.g., a lemon and a dash = a bottle of lemonade with just a suggestion of bitter beer in it.

1871. Times, 4 April. ‘Leader on Licensing Bill.’ The brewers are careless of the characters of their tenants; they compel them to take all their beer from themselves, and too often at such prices that they are driven to adulterate or dash the liquor.

2. Also dash it! or dash my buttons, wig, timbers, etc., intj. phr. (common).—Colloquial [257]expletives; also employed euphemistically = ‘to damn.’—See Buttons and Oaths.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress p. 46. Except light oaths, to grace his speeches, Like ‘Dash my wig!’ or ‘burn my breeches!’

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 22. You may try, but dash my timbers if you’ll ever cross the Thames to-night!

1842. Punch, vol. II., p. 20, col. 2. Yet henceforth—dash my wig! I’ll live with thee, with thee I’ll hop the twig!

1849. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. iv. Gunpowder is your true leveller—dash physical strength! A boy’s a man with a musket in his hand, my chap!

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, bk. IV., ch. iii. And if you hadn’t come round to me to-night, dash my wig if I wouldn’t have come round to you to-morrow.

1880. G. R. Sims, Three Brass Balls, pledge ii. ‘Dash it all!’ said the police-surgeon, ‘that’s two fatal cases I’ve had to-day.’

To have a dash on, verbal phr. (turf).—To speculate largely or wildly; ‘to go it strong.’

Dasher, subs. (old).—1. A showy prostitute. (Cf., sense 2).

1790. C. Dibdin, Sea Songs, ‘Old Cunwell the Pilot.’ My Poll, once a dasher, now turned to a nurse.

2. (colloquial).—An ostentatious or extravagant man or woman; an impetuous person; a ‘clipper’; also latterly,—the word has shown progress towards literary English throughout—a man or woman of fashion; a person of brilliant qualities, mental or physical. Fr., genreux-se; une femme catapulteuse (a fine woman, as also une cocodète). Spanish equivalents are damaza and sibila, while tiene garabato is said of women who ‘hook’ men by their manner and grace (garabato = a meat-hook).

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxix., p. 289. ‘Why, you look smarter by day,’ said Poll, ‘than you do by candlelight. I never see such a tight young dasher.’

1856. Miss Edgeworth, Almeria, p. 292. She was astonished to find in high life a degree of vulgarity of which her country companions would have been ashamed: but all such things in high life go under the general term dashing. These young ladies were dashers.

Daub, subs. (common).—1. An artist. Verb.—See Dawb.

David, subs. (common).—1.—See Davy, sense 1.

David Jones or David Jones’s Locker.—See under Davy.

David’s Sow. Drunk as David’s, or Davy’s sow, adv. phr. (old).—Beastly drunk. [For a somewhat far-fetched derivation, see Grose’s Dict. Vulg. Tongue.]

1733. Bailey, Erasmus, p. 127. When he comes home, after I have been waiting for him till I do not know what time at night, as drunk as David’s sow, he does nothing but lie snoring all night long by my side.

1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xiv. Fellows who have no respect for the articles of war, and who get as drunk as David’s sow.

Davy, subs. (colloquial).—1. An affidavit. Synonymous, by implication, with ‘God,’ in so help, or s’welp me davy, or [258]Alfred Davy (q.v.). Fr., Je t’en fous mon billet or mon petit turlututu = I’ll take my davy on it.

1764. O’Hara, Midas, II., iv. And I with my davy will back it, I’ll swear.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxii. ‘I’ll take my davy,’ says the captain, ‘it’s some Yankee trick.’

1842. Punch, vol. III., p. 136. Tell me on thy davy; whether thou dost dear thy Colin hold.

1884. Daily Telegraph, 4 Sept., p. 2, col. 2. You may take your davy I didn’t care anything about that.

Davy Jones, Davy, or old Davy, subs. phr. (nautical).—The spirit of the sea; specifically the sailors’ devil. [For suggested derivation, see Davy Jones’s locker, and for synonyms, Skipper.]

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. xiii. This same Davy Jones, according to the mythology of sailors, is the fiend that presides over all the evil spirits of the deep.

1790. C. Dibdin, Sea Songs. And if to old Davy I should go, friend Poll, Why you will ne’er hear of me more.

c. 1800. C. Dibdin, The Birthday, Act I., Sc. 2. June. When your back’s turn’d she’s for … sending you in a gale to old Davy.

Davy Jones’ (or Davy’s) locker, subs. phr. (nautical).—The ocean; specifically, the grave of them that perish at sea. The popular derivation (= a corruption of ‘Jonah’s locker,’ i.e., the place where Jonah was kept and confined, and by implication the grave of all gone to the bottom, drowned or dead) is conjectural. The following, however, may be an additional link in the chain of evidence.

1628. Bishop Andrewes, Ninety-six Sermons, p. 515 (fol.) Of any, that hath beene in extreme perill, we use to say: he hath beene where Ionas was; by Iona’s going downe the Whales throat, by Him againe comming forth of the Whales mouth, we expresse, we even point out, the greatest extremity, and the greatest deliverence that can be.

1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xxvii. By de holy poker, Massa Easy, but that terrible sort of gale the other day, anyhow. I tink one time we all go to Davy Jones’s locker.

1842. Comic Almanack, p. 324. There is no reason right why Jones’s kid Should be consign’d to Davy Jones’s locker.

1851. Notes and Queries, 1 S., iii., p. 478. If a sailor is killed in a sea-skirmish, or falls overboard and is drowned, or any other fatality occurs which necessitates the consignment of his remains to the ‘great deep,’ his surviving messmates speak of him as one who has been sent to Davy Jones’ locker.