Chapter XX: Part 20

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v. When a superior officer does
not know his duty, and is instructed in it by an inferior officer,
he is said to be dry-nursed. The inferior nurses the superior as a
dry nurse rears an infant.

Dry-room, subs. (thieves’).—A prison. For synonyms, see Cage.

Dry-shave, subs. (common).—Rubbing the chin with the fingers; also used as a verb. The action implies a certain effrontery.

Dry-up, subs. (theatrical).—A failure or Columbus (q.v.); contrast with draw, sense 2.

Verb (colloquial).—To cease talking; to abandon a purpose or position; to stop work. As an interjection = Hold your jaw!

1865. The Index, 2 Feb. With which modest contribution we dry up
with reference to the subject.

1872. Daily Telegraph, 4 July. An audience which should cause
defeated Boston to hang her diminished head, dry up, and feel
small.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 69. I
must dry up for the fellow’s bested me.

1884. Cornhill Mag., June, p. 617. Dry up! is the slangy and
impatient exclamation with which he cuts short the occasional
attempts of his mother to lecture him.

1887. O. W. Holmes, Our Hundred Days, p. 131. There were frequent
... interruptions, something like these: ‘That will do, sir!’ or,
‘You had better stop, sir!’... With us it would have been dry up!
or Hold on!

1888. R. Haggard, Mr. Meeson’s Will [in Illus. Lond. News, Summer
No. p. 3, col. 1]. He ... suddenly dried up as he noticed the
ominous expression on the great man’s brow.

Dry-walking, subs. (military).—A hard-up soldier’s outing.

D. T’s., subs. phr. (common).—Delirium tremens. For synonyms, see Jim-jams. Also The D. T. = Daily Telegraph.

1864. Soiled Dove, p. 266. I wish to God I could get d. t., and
then I should go mad and cut my throat, or pitch myself out of the
window.

1868. Public Opinion, 1 Aug. Frightful diseases, one of the
commonest of which is jocularly spoken of by tipplers as d. t.

1880. G. R. Sims, Ballads of Babylon (Beauty and Beast).—And had
sold her child to a titled churl, Who had just got round from a bad
d.t.

1883. Globe, 7 July, p. 1, col. 5. One of the daily papers, which
boasts the largest circulation in the world, is familiar to all as
the d.t.

1887. Jas. Payn, Glow-worm Tales, vol. i., p. 209. As certain as
d.t. is the end of drinking.

Dub, subs. (old).—1. A key; specifically a master key. [From dup or dub, to open; to do up; see verb, sense 1.] For synonyms, see Locksmith’s daughter.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 153. A bunch of young dubs by
her side, which are a bunch of small keys.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Dub, a key.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 39. That’s the
kinchin as was to try the dub for us, ain’t it? muttered Smith.

Verb (old).—To open, ‘Dub your mummer’ = Open your mouth. Cf., Dubber; ‘Dub the jigger’ = open the door.—See quot., 1848. Also by confusion, to shut or fasten.

1567. Harman, Caveat [E.E.T. Soc., 1869], p. 85. Dup the gygger,
and maund that is bene shyp.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act iv. Sc. 5. Then up he rose and donned
his clothes, and dupped the chamber door.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London Laid Open, p. 106. Dub the jigger,
fasten the door.

Dub at a Knapping Jigger, subs. phr. (old).—A turnpike keeper.

1812. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v.

Dubber, subs. (old).—1. The mouth or tongue; mum your dubber = hold your tongue. (Cf., dub your mummer, under dub).

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 150. Dubber mum’d. To keep
your mouth shut, or be obliged to hold your tongue.

2. (old).—A picklock. [From dub, a key + er.]—Grose, 1785.

Dub-Cove.—See Dubsman.

Dub-lay, subs. (old).—Using picklocks. [From Dub (q.v.), a key + lay (q.v.).]—Grose, 1785.

Dublin-dissector, subs. (medical students’).—A cudgel.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 154. At first he perpetually carries a
Dublin dissector under his arm.

Dubs, adj. (Winchester College).—Double.

Dubsman, or Dubs, subs. (old).—A turnkey or gaoler. [From dub (q.v.) = key + man.]

1812. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v.

1887. Henley, Villon’s Good Night. For you, you coppers’ narks, and
dubs, What pinched me when upon the snam.

English Synonyms. Jigger-dubber; screw.

French Synonyms.—Un gaffier (thieves’); un gaffe (thieves’ = boat hook); un oncle (thieves’ = uncle); un boye (thieves’: also an executioner at Cayenne or New Caledonia); le Duc de Guiche (thieves’: from guichettier = jailer); un artoupan (thieves’); un barbeaudier (thieves’); le Comte de Castue (thieves’: Castue = prison); un chat (thieves’ = a cat); le Comte de Canton (thieves’: Canton = prison or ‘stir’); le Comte de la Caruche (thieves’).

Spanish Synonyms.—Banastero (= basket-maker); banquero (= banker).

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], 30. Quoth a
dubsman, who gazed on the shattered wall, ‘You have carved your
epitaph, Claude du Val, With your chisel so fine, tra la!’

Dub up, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To hand over; pay; fork out. [Cf., provincial dubs = money.] Fr., foncer; abouler. Formerly, to lock up or secure; to button one’s pocket.

1840. Comic Almanack, p. 237. Come, dub up! roars a third: and I
don’t mind telling you, in confidence, that I was so frightened
that I took out the sovereign and gave it.

Ducats, subs. (theatrical).—1. Money. [Probably from Shylock and The Merchant of Venice.] For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. vi. The Jews have always
appeared to me a calumniated race. From spendthrift King John
downwards, the Christian has ever pocketed the ducats, and abused
the donor.

2. (thieves’).—Specifically a railway ticket; also pawnbroker’s duplicate; raffle-card, or brief (q.v.). Also ducket.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., xl., 501. So I took a ducat
(ticket) for Sutton in Surrey.

Duce, subs. (old).—Twopence. [From the Latin.]

1812. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 6. If any body offers you less
nor a mag, or a duce, vy, you may say with the poet, Who vou’d his
farthings bear? ven he himself might his quivetus make vith a bare
bodkin.

Duck, subs. (common).—1. Scraps of meat; otherwise block-ornaments, stickings, faggots, manablins, or chuck (q.v.).

2. (Winchester College).—The face. To make a duck = to make a grimace. For synonyms, see Dial.

3. (common).—A ‘draw’ or decoy. [An abbreviation of decoy-duck.]

4. (colloquial).—A term of endearment; also used in admiration; e.g., a duck of a bonnet. Also ducky: duck of diamonds being a superlative. For synonyms, see My tulip.

1837. Comic Almanack, p. 78. You won’t grudge your poor rib a few
ribbons, will you, Duck?

1841. Leman Rede, Sixteen-String Jack, i., 2. Nel. Oh, isn’t he a
duck of a fellow? Bob. He’s the very flower of the flock.

1846. Punch, vol. XI., p. 164. Though somewhat out at elbows, he’s
what the ladies call a ‘duck.’

5. (cheap jacks’).—A metal-cased watch; i.e., old watch movements in German silver cases.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Advent. of Cheap Jack, p. 38. What
appeared to the roughs a fine old English and valuable watch, but
what in reality was an almost worthless duck.

To make a duck, or duck’s egg, verb. phr. (cricketers’).—To make no score; Cf., To crack one’s egg, and pair of spectacles. [From the shape of the ‘O.’]

1868. St. Paul’s Magazine, Aug. You see by the twitch of the hand,
the glove rapidly raised to the face, and replaced on the
bat-handle, the jerk of the elbow, and perhaps the uneasy lifting
of the foot, that his fear of a duck—as, by a pardonable
contraction from ‘duck’s-egg,’—a nought is called in cricket
play—etc.

1870. London Figaro, 21 June. J. C. Shaw is a host in himself; he
took six wickets, and all of them for ducks.

1872. Weekly Dispatch 9 June. The next ball from Brice sends
Caffyn’s bails flying: and out comes the last man—Southerton—and he
is used to duck’s eggs.

1883. Echo, 15 May, p. 4, col. 2. Out of the eleven Surrey batsmen
who played against Notts yesterday, no less than five were credited
with ducks.

Duck that runs, or grinds the gospel mill, subs. phr. (American).—A clergyman. For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

1869. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’) Innocents at Home, p. 17, 18.
Are you the duck that runs the gospel mill next door?

Lame Duck (q.v. post).

German Duck (q.v. post.).

To do a duck, verb. phr. (thieves’).—To hide under the seat of a public conveyance with a view to avoid paying the fare. [From duck = to bow or stoop.]

1889. Sporting Times. Doin’ a duck, macin’ the rattler, ridin’ on
the cheap, on the odno, under the bloomin’ seat.

Ducket.—See Ducat.

Duck-footed, adj. phr. (common).—Said of people who walk like a duck; i.e., with the toes turned inwards.

Ducking. To go ducking, verb. phr. (common).—To go courting. [From duck (q.v.) = a term of endearment + ing.] See Goose-and-Duck.

Ducks, subs. (colloquial).—1. Linen trousers; generally white ducks. [From the material and colour.] At Eton worn only by men in the boats. For synonyms, see Bags and Kicks.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 248. There’s our man, Tom; he
can have a pair of ducks of mine, and a check shirt of Bob’s.

1846. Punch, vol. X., p. 263. I wore my Russian Ducks, In their
beautiful whiteness.

1888. Mrs. Musgrave, Savage London. Billy should do the thing
proper, and be married in a pair of white ducks.

2. (Stock Exchange).—Aylesbury Dairy Co. shares.

3. (Anglo-Indian).—Officials of the Bombay service.

Chance the ducks (q.v., ante.)

To make ducks and drakes of one’s money, verb. phr. (common).—To squander money as lavishly as stones are squandered at ‘ducks and drakes.’ [In allusion to the childish game. Lemprière (Art. Scipio Africanus the Younger) refers to Scipio and Lælius taking to ‘ducks and drakes’ as a supplementary recreation to shell-gathering, and an early notice of the game occurs in Minucius Felix (Octavius cap. iii.):—From the beach they choose a shell, thin and polished by the waves; they hold it in a horizontal position, and then whirl it along as near the surface of the sea as possible, so as to make it skim the surge in its even motion, or spring up and bound from time to time out of the water. That boy is conqueror whose shell both runs out farthest and bounds oftenest.] Variants are To Blue One’s Pile; to Sweat (q.v.). Fr., galvauder; manger sa légitime.

1605. Chapman, etc., Eastward Hoe! Act i. Do nothing, be like a
gentleman, be idle ... make ducks and drakes with shillings.

1664. H. Peacham, Worth of a Penny, in Arber’s Garner, vol. VI., p.
259. I remember, in Queen Elizabeth’s time, a wealthy citizen of
London left his son a mighty estate in money; who, imagining he
should never be able to spend it, would usually make ‘ducks and
drakes’ in the Thames, with Twelve pences [= 5/– now], as boys are
wont to do with tile sherds and oyster shells.

d. 1680. S. Butler, Character of a Miser, in Remains, vol. II., p. 343 (ed. 1759). And he that made Ducks and Drakes with his Money enjoyed it every way as much.

1698. Ward, London Spy, pt. xvi., p. 372. They hook in the old fool
again to make ducks and drakes with his money.

1700. Gentleman Instructed, p. 18. I would neither fawn on money
for money’s sake, nor duck and drake it away for a frolick.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. lviii. We’ve tied up the property,
so that he can’t make ducks and drakes with it.

1858. Marian Evans (G. Eliot), Janet’s Repentance, ch. xxv. They
say Mrs. Dempster will have as good as six hundred a year at
least.... It’s well if she doesn’t make ducks and drakes of it
somehow.

Duck’s-Bill, subs. (printers’).—A tongue cut in a piece of stout paper and pasted on at the bottom of the tympan sheet. [From the shape.]

Ducky or Duck of Diamonds.—See Duck, sense 4.

Dudder, Dudsman, or Duffer, subs. (old).—A pedlar of so-called smuggled wares—gown-pieces, silk waistcoats, etc. The term and practice are both obsolete, though in a few seaports, London especially, they survived till recently in a modified form. [From duds (q.v.) = clothes.] Fr., un marottier (thieves’). See also Whispering Dudder and Barrow-man.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 160. A dudder happened some
time ago to meet a countryman in a dark lane, and sold him a
waistcoat-piece for two guineas and a half, which stood himself in
only four-and-sixpence.

Dude, subs. (American).—A swell; fop; ‘masher.’ For synonyms, see Dandy. [From Scots duds = clothes; Cf., quot., 1870.] Derivatives are Dudette and Dudinette = a young girl affecting the airs of a belle; Dudine = a female masher.

1870. Putnam’s Magazine, Feb. Think of her? I think she is dressed
like a dud; can’t say how she would look in the costume of the
present century.

1883. Graphic, 31 March, p. 319, col. 1. The one object for which
the dude exists is to tone down the eccentricities of fashion....
The silent, subfuse, subdued ‘dude’ hands down the traditions of
good form.

1889. Puck’s Library, April, p. 3. For the front rows two styles
are recommended—dude, No. 16, and Bald-headed Man, No. 41—both
original in design and exquisite in finish.

Dude Hamfatter, subs. phr. (American).—A wealthy pig-jobber. [From Dude, a swell + Hamfatter, in allusion to occupation.]

1888. New York National Police Gazette. It seems that the dude
hamfatters, after trying various games to skip unseen, conceived
the idea of making up as a couple of well-dressed women.

Duds, subs. (colloquial).—Clothes; sometimes old clothes or rags. [Scots dud, Dutch todde, a rag; O.E. dudde = cloth. Duddery = a clothiers’ booth (De Foe’s Tour of Gt. Brit., p. 125).] In America applied to any kind of portable property (Cf., quots., 1622, 1780, and 1884). To angle for duds, see Anglers; To sweat duds = to pawn (see Sweat).

1440. Prompt. Parv., ed. Way, i, 134. Dudde, cloth.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 86. When we byng back to the
deuseauyel, we wyll fylche some duddes of the Ruffemans.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874).
Dudes, clothes.

1622. Head and Kirkman, English Rogue. ‘Canting Song.’ For all your
duds [goods] are binged avast.

1780. R. Tomlinson, Slang Pastoral, IX. No duds in my pocket, no
sea-coal to burn.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary. Dudds, rags. Also clothes.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 20. Doubled him up, like a bag
of old duds!

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. v. A ragged rascal, every dud
upon whose back was bidding good-day to the other.

1841. Leman Rede, Sixteen-String Jack, ii. 3. Crissy, odsbuds! I’ll
on with my duds.

1871. New York Tribune, 23 Jan. The three [railway] Commissioners,
in whose appointment you had no choice, decide that you must get
out, leave your house, bundle out your duds, and be off.

1881. A. Trollope, Marian Fay, ch. iii. To see her children washed
and put in and out of their duds was perhaps the greatest pleasure
of her life.

1884. Athenæum, 19 July, p. 74, col. 2. A writer in 1784 [in Gent.
Mag., Gomme, vol. II.] says, for instance, that duds signifies
rags, tatters, and that it comes from the Celtic. We do not believe
in the derivation, but will not at present endeavour to refute it;
we are sure the meaning is given wrongly, though it has the
authority of Halliwell and Wedgwood in recent times. Duds, in the
northern dialects means small things, or things of little account,
whether articles of clothing, trade, or merchandise. We have
frequently heard the word applied to workmen’s tools; and in an
unprinted churchwarden’s account of an eastern shire we find in the
year 1501 mention of ‘clocke-dudes.’ From the context it is evident
that the small wheels belonging to the town clock are meant.

Dudsman.—See Dudder.

Dues, subs. (old).—Money. To tip the dues = to pay; to hand over a share. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt. [A colloquial extension of due = toll, tribute, fee, etc.]

1812. Vaux, Flash Dict. So a thief, requiring his share of booty
from his palls, will desire them to bring the dues to light.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 13. Will he come
down with the dues.

Duff, verb (thieves’).—1. Specifically, to sell flashy goods as pretended contraband or stolen; hence to cheat. Duffers, or Men at the duff = pedlars of flash. (Cf., Dudder). Duffing = the practice; used as an adjective = spurious.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 158. ‘The Duff’ [smuggled
goods, so named and described in.]

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Duffers: cheats who pretend to deal in
smuggled goods, stopping all country people, or such as they think
they can impose on; which they frequently do, by selling them
Spital-fields goods at double their current price.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. II., p. 23.
They have been regularly ‘duffed’ out of the streets, so much cheap
rubbish is made to sell.

1888. G. R. Sims, in Cass. Sat. Journal, 31 March, p. 7. The man at
the duff palms off false jewellery as real.

2. (common).—To rub up the nap of old clothes so as to make them look almost as good as new.

Duffer = one who performs this operation, whilst the article operated upon is also a duffer by virtue of the fact itself. Cf., Duffer.

Duffer, subs. (old: now recognised).—1. A pedlar; specifically a hawker of Brummagem (q.v.), and so-called smuggled goods (hence senses 2 and 3). In the population returns of 1831 duffer = one who gets a living by cheating pawnbrokers.—See Dudder and Duff.

1796. Colquhoun, Police of the Metropolis, p. 176. A class of
sharpers who are known by the name of duffers, who go about from
house to house, and attend public-houses, inns, and fairs,
pretending to sell smuggled goods.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxxvii., p. 361. Nor did it
mark him out as the prey of ring droppers, pea and thimble-riggers,
duffers, touters, or any of those bloodless sharpers, who are,
perhaps, a little better known to the police.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. lx. Now it is a fact that Colonel
Altamont had made a purchase of cigars and French silks from some
duffers in Fleet Street about this period.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 413. An
intelligent street-seller, versed in all the arts and mysteries of
this trade, told me that he understood by a duffer, a man who sold
goods under false pretences, making out that they were smuggled, or
even stolen, so as to enhance the idea of their cheapness.

2. (colloquial).—Anything (or person) worthless; anything sham. [From sense 1.]

d. 1845. Hood [quoted in Annandale]. Duffers (if I may use a slang
term which has now become classical, and which has no exact
equivalent in English proper) are generally methodical and old.
Fosset certainly was a duffer.

1869. Mrs. H. Wood, Roland Yorke, ch. xi. Don’t you think, Hamish,
he must have been a great duffer to go and marry before he knew how
he could keep a wife?

1872. Standard, 12 Sept. ‘Who is to blame?’ we ask, in the
interests of our government, and natural curiosity. ‘That duffer in
feathers’ is the curt reply, pointing with the finger of scorn at
one hero whom we had mistaken for something little short of a field
marshal.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 264. I’d several
sovs.—good ones—with me, and also a whole lot of duffers.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 10. He made no bones
about calling her stupid, and was more apt to call her a little
duffer than to sympathise with her when she got into trouble.

1889. Answers, 29 June, p. 66, col. 1. If the note is a genuine one
the water-mark will then stand out plainly. If a duffer it will
almost disappear.

3. (nautical).—A female smuggler.

Duffer-out, verb. phr. (Australian miners’).—To get exhausted.

1887. Finch-Hatton, Advance Australia. He then reported to the
shareholders that the lode had duffered out, and that it was
useless to continue working.

Duffing, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—False; counterfeit; worthless; Cf., Duff and Duffer.

1862. London Herald, 27 Dec. ‘Answers to Correspondents.’ Houses
burdened with ninety years’ repairing leases and heavy ground rents
are run up by the ‘duffing’ builder, merely for sale.

1873. Times, Jan. We know now that so-called ‘duffing’ jewellery is
scattered far and wide over the land.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 239. A ‘shise’
half-bull and a ‘duffing’ tanner: half-a-crown and a sixpence
quietly palmed off on this man out of his half-sovereign.

Dugs, subs. (old).—The paps; once used without reproach of women; now only in contempt, except of animals. [From same stem as ‘daughter.’] For synonyms, see Dairy.

Duke, subs. (old).—1. Gin. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xxiii. The stuff itself,
which in the Western gin-shops goes generally by the name of ‘blue
ruin,’ or ‘short,’ is here called ... duke.

2. (cabmen’s).—A horse. For synonyms, see Prad.

3. (thieves’).—Any transaction in the shape of a burglary; e.g., ‘I was Jemminy to their duke’ = ‘I was privy to the robbery.’

Duke Humphrey. To dine with Duke Humphrey.—See Dine.

Duke of Limbs, subs. phr. (common).—An awkward, uncouth man; specifically one with ungainly limbs. [Grose, 1785.]

Duke of York, verb. phr. (rhyming slang).—To walk; also, to talk.

Dukes, subs. (common).—The hands. For synonyms, see Bunch of fives and Daddle.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., xl., 501. So I said I would not
go at all if he put his dukes (hands) on me.

1888. Lic. Vict. Gazette, 27 Jan., p. 55, 3. The men ... put up
their dukes to fight for supremacy.

To grease the dukes, verb. phr. (common).—To bribe; also to pay.

1883. J. W. Horsley, Jottings from Jail. I went to him and asked
him if he was not going to grease my duke.

To put up the dukes, verb. phr. (common).—To put up one’s hands for combat.

1885. Home Tidings, p. 369. ‘Boxing Club Report.’ The two
contestants put up their dukes, and soon warmed up to their work.

Dukey.—See Dookie and Gaff.

Dulcamara, subs. (colloquial).—A quack-doctor. [From the name of a character in Donizetti’s l’Elixir d’Amour (1845).]

Dull in the Eye, adv. phr. (common).—Intoxicated. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Dull-swift, subs. (old).—A sluggish messenger.

Dumb-fogged, ppl. adj. (common).—Confused.

Dumb-foozled, ppl. adj. (common).—Confounded; puzzled.

1883. Hawley Smart, At Fault, I., x., 240. Considering you built
the theatre, it struck me you weren’t very good at finding your way
about, you seemed regularly dumbfoozled.

Dumbfound, Dumfound, verb (Also Dumbfounding, subs., Dumbfounded or Dumfoundered [Scots], adj. [Old Slang, now colloquial]).—To perplex; to confound.

1690. Dryden, Prologue to Prophetess. Then think on that bare bench
my servant sat. I see him ogle still, and hear him chat. Selling
facetious bargains, and propounding That witty recreation called
dumbfounding.

1703. Ward, London Spy, pt. xvi., p. 379. This unexpected retort of
the parsons, quite dumb-founded the Quaker.

1706. R. Estcourt, Fair Example, Act. III., Sc. i., p. 30. And if I
can but dumb-found my husband with a dream, I shall be able to make
my word good.

1714. Spectator, No. 616. They grew a little mutinous for more
liquor. They had like to have dumfounded the justice; but his clerk
came in to his assistance.

1766. Mortimer, Falstaff’s Wedding, I., ii. They let fly their
jests so thick at me, and peppered me so plaguily with small wit,
that I was dumfounded.

1855. A. Trollope, The Warden, ch. xi. At any other time how
exquisitely valuable would have been that touch! but now he was
distraught, dumb-founded, and unmanned.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. v. He utterly dumfoundered
Charley, by asking abruptly ‘How’s Jim?’

1880. G. R. Sims, Three Brass Balls, Pledge xx. White as a ghost,
dumbfoundered, and trembling, Dan attempted to explain that he was
innocent.

1882. Democracy, ch. vii. She lost her command of thought, and sat
dumbfounded.

1883. W. E. Norris, Thirlby Hall, ch. ix. I was too dumbfoundered
to speak.

Dumb-glutton, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Dumb-squint, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Dummacker, subs. (old).—A knowing person. For synonyms, see Downy Cove.

Dummerer.—See Dommerar.

Dummock, subs. (common).—The posteriors. For synonyms, see Monocular Eye-glass.

Dummy, subs. (colloquial).—A deaf mute; also an idiot; sometimes a Duffer, sense 2.

c. 1884. G. R. Sims, Dagonet Ballads (Mott Jarvis). And she left us
like open-mouthed dummies a-waggin’ our heads at the moon.

2. (colloquial).—Generic for sham substitutes for real objects: e.g., empty bottles and drawers in an apothecary’s shop; wooden half-tubs of butter, bladders of lard, hams, cheeses, and so forth; Dummies in libraries generally take the form of works not likely to tempt the general reader. Hence, by implication, anything sham.

1846. Punch, vol. XI., p. 185. A Dummy list of Causes has long
since been preferred, to enable Thompson to ascertain whether ‘we
are retained on the other side’ when a brief is brought on behalf
of either party.

1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 112. The doorway is set
round with sprucely-dressed ‘dummies’ of young gentlemen that have
their gloved fingers spread out like bunches of radishes.

1869. Mrs. H. Wood, Roland Yorke, ch. ix. The large imposing stock
turned out to be three parts dummies.

1871. Daily News. ‘Leader,’ 28 April. The Bill is not yet in the
hands of members or public, the document placed on the table of the
Lords being what is, in parliamentary slang, called a ‘dummy.’

3. (cards’).—The open hand at an imperfect game of whist.

1853. Lytton, My Novel, bk. XI., ch. iv. We might cheer the evening
with a game at whist—double dummy.

4. (thieves’).—A pocket book.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Frisk the dummee of the screens =
take all the bank notes out of the pocket book: Ding the dummee,
and bolt, they sing out beef = Throw away the pocket book, and run
off, as they call out ‘stop thief.’

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. He is caught—he must
‘stand and deliver’; Then out with the dummy, and off with the bit
[money].

1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach.
(Chorus)—Speak to the tattler, bag the swag, And finely hunt the
dummy.

[Other colloquial usages are: (1) = dumb-waiter; (2) = a locomotive furnished with condensing engines, and hence without the noise of escaping steam; (3) = a fireman’s term for a jet from the main or chief water pipe; (4) = a hatter’s pressing iron: Cf., tailor’s Goose; (5) = a piece of cloth rolled tight and saturated with oil, for rubbing hard places to be cut; (6) = an actor or actress who has nothing to say, etc.]

Dummy-Daddle Dodge, subs. phr. (thieves’).—Picking pockets under cover of a sham hand or daddle (q.v.).

1883. Greenwood, in Daily Telegraph. Asked by the friendly warder
what he thought of the dummy-daddle dodge, Mr. Mobbs said he rather
thought that game was played out. A woman, he proceeded to explain,
can work with a dummy-daddle in an omnibus or a railway carriage
much better than a man, because, without appearing conspicuous, she
can wear any kind of loose shawl or cloak as concealment for her
real hand.

Dummy-hunter, subs. (old).—A pickpocket who confined his operations to pocket-books. [From dummy (q.v.) = a pocket book + hunter.]

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood [ed. 1884] p. 89. No dummy hunter had
forks so fly, No knuckler so deftly could fake a cly.

1843. Punch, vol. IV., p. 129. While ears are cramm’d with humbug,
boys! The dummy-hunters ply An easy trade.

Dump, subs. (old).—A metal counter.

Verb (colloquial).—1. To throw down so as to produce a heavy noise: e.g., to dump down coals.

2. (Winchester College).—To put out. ‘Dump the tolly!’ = Extinguish the candle!

Dump Fencer, subs. (old).—A button-merchant.

Dumpies, subs. (military).—The Nineteenth Hussars. [From the diminutive size of the men when the regiment was first raised.] Obsolete. Dumpy = squat or undersized.

Dumpling-depôt, subs. (common).—The stomach. For synonyms, see Bread-basket.

Dumpling-Shop, subs. (common).—The paps. For synonyms, see Dairy.

Dumps, subs. (common).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (Sir Rupert). May I venture to say
when a gentleman jumps In the river at midnight for want of the
dumps He rarely puts on his knee-breeches and pumps.

In the dumps, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Cast down; ill at ease; unpleasantly situate.

1592. Greene, Groatsworth of Wit, in wks. xii., 115. Whence spring
these dumps?

1596. Jonson, Every Man in His Humour, III., iii. How now, Master
Knowell, in dumps, in dumps! Come, this becomes not.

1600. Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, ii., 3. Sing no more
ditties, sing no mo Of dumps so dull and heavy.

1711. Spectator, No. 176. When I come home she is in the dumps,
because she says she is sure I came so soon only because I think
her handsome.

1717. Mrs. Centlivre, Bold Stroke for a Wife, v., 1. What art thou
in the dumps for?

1771. Foote, Maid of Bath, II. She seems got quite i’ the dumps.

1847. W. B. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso, p. 19. My happiness is
chang’d to doleful dumps, Whilst, merry Michael, all thy cards were
trumps.

1855. Trench, English, Past and Present (2nd ed.), p. 131. In the
great ballad of Chevy-Chase a noble warrior, whose legs are hewn
off, is described as being in doleful dumps. Holland’s translation
of Livy represents the Romans as being in the dumps after the
battle of Cannæ. It was in elegant use then.

1885. Daily Telegraph, 19 Jan., p. 5, col. 2. Everybody who suffers
now and then from a fit of the dumps is counselled to read amusing
books.

Dun, subs. and verb (originally slang: now recognised).—An importunate creditor; to persist in demanding payment. [A.S. dynian = to clamour, to din; possibly influenced by the memory of a certain Joe Dunn, a famous English bailiff, temp. Henry VII.] Fr., un loup (= wolf); un Anglais (= an Englishman). Also dunner and dunning.

1663. T. Killegrew, Parson’s Wedding, III., v., in Dodsley, O.P.
(1780), xi., 452. We shall have the sport, and be revenged upon the
rogue for dunning a gentleman in a tavern.

1675. Wycherley, Country Wife, I., in wks. (1713), 136. The most
insatiable sorts of duns, that invade our lodgings in a morning.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, Act V., Sc. ii. Man. No, no. Those
you have obliged most, most certainly avoid you, when you can
oblige ’em no longer; and they take your visits like so many duns.

1678. C. Cotton, Scarronides, bk. i., p. 43 (ed. 1725). Have what
you want, nor will I dun ye, But pay me when you can get mony.

1707. Farquhar, Beaux Stratagem, Act III., Sc. iii. I remember the
good days when we could dun our masters for our wages, and if they
refused to pay us, we could have a warrant to carry ’em before a
Justice.

1712. Spectator, No. 454. Though they never buy, they are ever
talking of new silks, laces, and ribbons, and serve the owners, in
getting them customers as their common dunners do in making them
pay.

1731. Daily Journal, 9 Jan. [‘List of the officers established in
the most notorious gaming-houses.’] 9th.: A dunner, who goes about
to recover money lost at play.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, bk. III., ch. iii. Poverty and
distress, with their horrid train of duns, attorneys, bailiffs,
haunted me day and night.

1777. Sheridan, Trip to Scarborough, Act I., Sc. ii. What, hast
spent all, eh? And art thou come to dun his lordship for
assistance?

1821. Scott, Kenilworth, ch. xv. I refused him admittance as
flatly, Blount, as you would refuse a penny to a blind beggar; as
obstinately, Tracy, as thou didst ever deny access to a dun.

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. ix., p. 66. To fetch three
new boys, and dun the relations of two old ones for the balance of
a small account.

1888. C. J. Dunphie, The Chameleon, p. 6. Dunning for payment which
may not be convenient to them, and which would in no sense conduce
to the honour of the dunners.

Dunaker, subs. (old).—A cattle-lifter.

16(?). Poem of 17th Century (quoted by Nares). The seventeenth a
dun-aker, that maketh his vows To go i’ the country and steal all
their cows.

1693. Herrick (‘Poor Robin’). Mercury is in a conjunction with
Venus, and when such conjunctions happen, it signifies a most
plentiful crop that year, of hectors ... donnakers, cross-biters,
etc.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Dunderhead, subs. (old).—A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Dundreary, subs. and adj. (colloquial).—Specifically, a stammering, foolish, and long-whiskered fop—the Lord Dundreary of Our American Cousin (1858)—generally, a foppish fool. Cf., Jubilee Juggins.

1876. Jas. Grant, One of the Six Hundred, ch. iii. His whole air
had the ‘used up’ bearing of those miserable dundrearys who affect
to act as if youth, wealth, and luxury were the greatest calamities
that flesh is heir to, and that life itself was a bore.

Dundrearies, subs. (colloquial).—A pair of whiskers cut sideways from the chin, and grown as long as possible. A fashion (now obsolete) suggested by Sothern’s make-up in Our American Cousin.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice-Versâ, ch. xvii. Bushy black whiskers, more
like the antiquated dundreary type than modern fashion permits.

Dung, subs. (workmen’s).—An operative working for less than ‘society’ wages. Formerly, according to Grose, ‘a journeyman taylor who submits to the law for regulating journey-men’s taylors’ wages, therefore deemed by the flints (q.v.) a coward.’

Dung-Fork (also Dung-Cart), subs. (colloquial).—A country bumpkin. For synonyms, see Joskin.

Dun-in-the-Mire, subs. phr. (obsolete).—An antiquated game.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, i., 4. Mercutio. If thou art
dun we’ll draw thee from the mire Of this (save reverence) love,
wherein thou stick’st Up to the ears.

Dunnage, subs. (nautical).—Baggage; clothes. Cf., Duds. [Properly wood or loose fagots laid across the hold of a vessel, or stuffed between packages to keep cargo from damage by water or shifting.]

1849. J. F. Cooper, The Sea Lions, ch. v. Not only was the chest
more than half empty, but the articles it did contain were of the
coarsest materials.... ‘There is little here to pay a man for
crossing from the Vineyard,’ observed Roswell Gardiner.... ‘What is
to be done with all this dunnage, deacon?’

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. i., p. 262. If
they can meet with ... the young ladies, they ‘put it on them for
dunnage’ (beg a stock of general clothing.)

Dunnakin or Dunnyken, subs. (old).—A privy; in U.S.A., a chamber-pot. For synonyms, see Bury and Mrs. Jones.—[Grose—1785.]

Dunop, subs. (back-slang).—A pound.

Dup, verb (old).—To open.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. To dup ye gyger, to open the
dore.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iv. And dupped the chamber door.

1609. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candlelight. If we ... dup but the
gigger of a country-cove’s ken, from thence at the chats we trine
in the Lightmans.

1665. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 49 (1874), s.v.

1691. Academia, quoted in Notes and Queries, 6 S., xii., 416.
Beside, it cost me twopence more, To one that sits to dup a dore.

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Dup = enter (the house).

Durham-Man, subs. (old).—A knock-kneed man.

Duria, subs. (old).—Fire.

1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

Durrynacker, subs. (thieves’).—A female hawker of lace; generally practised as an introduction to fortune-telling. Also Durrynacking. [Described in H. Mayhew’s London Labor and London Poor, vol. i., p. 472, 1851.]

Dust, subs. (common).—Money. [Said to be from ‘gold-dust,’ but this is a mere guess.]

1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., vi., 299. My lord, quoth the king,
presently deposit your hundred pounds in gold, or else no going
hence all the daies of your life.... The abbot down with his dust;
and glad he escaped so, returned to Reading.

1671. Eachard, Observations. If they did intend to trade with
Christ they must down with the dust instantly, for to his knowledge
the Papists did offer a vast sum of money for England’s Christ.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Dust ... also a cant name for
money, as down with your dust, put, pay, or lay down your money,
etc.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. xiii. You have thrown
away a second chance. Play or pay, all the world over.... Down with
the dust.

1840. Comic Almanack. ‘The Dust about the Gold Dust,’ p. 217. She
cried, ‘Come, down, now, with your dust!’

1890. Welfare, March, p. 5, col. 1. ‘Strange Sermons.’ It is
related of Dean Swift that, preaching of charity, he comprised his
sermon within a single short sentence. His text was from Proverbs
xix., 17: ‘He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord.’
His treatment of the subject consisted of the words: ‘If you
approve the security, down with your dust!’

To dust one’s jacket, cassock, or coat, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To thrash; metaphorically, to criticise severely.—See quot., 1557, and cf., Baste.

1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. 49, st. b., p. 107 (E.D.S.). What
fault deserves a brushed cote.

1612. Passenger of Benvenuto. Observe, my English gentleman, that
blowes have a wonderfull prerogative in the feminine sex; for if
shee be a bad woman, there is no more proper plaister to mend her,
then this: but if (which is a rare chance) she be good, to dust her
often hath in it a singular, unknowne, and as it were an
inscrutable vertue to make her much better, and to reduce her, if
possible, to perfection.

1698. Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, Act v., Sc. ii. Tell me
presently where your master is, sirrah, or I’ll dust the secret out
of your jacket.

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, l. 26. Prankley, shaking his cane,
bid him hold his tongue, otherwise he would dust his cassock for
him.

1837. Barham, I. L. (M. of Venice). Old Shylock was making a
racket, and threatening how well he’d dust every man’s jacket,
Who’d help’d her in getting aboard of the packet.

1865. Saturday Review, Ap. If he will turn to Theocritus, v., 119,
he will learn that there is a good and respectable Greek ancestry
for the cant phrase, to dust one’s jacket:—ὅκα μάνποκα τεῖδέτυδάσας
Εὐμάριδας ἐκάθηρε, where ἐκάθηρε means, ‘purgavit te,’ ‘dressed
you,’ ‘gave you a dressing,’ dusted your jacket. So great is the
similarity of ideas in all nations and languages, of which, indeed,
there is abundant illustration in other passages of Theocritus.

1872. Fun, Sept. The difference is I dusts his [coat] off his back,
and he dusts mine on my back.

To get up and dust, or To dust out of, verb. phr. (American).—To move quickly; to leave hurriedly. For synonyms, see Absquatulate.

To have dust in the eyes, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be sleepy; to draw straws (q.v.). Said mainly of children: e.g., ‘The dustman is coming.’

To kick up, or raise a dust, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To make a disturbance, or much ado.

1759. Smollett, Letter to Wilkes, quoted in D. Hannay’s Smollett
(1887), p. 132. If the affair cannot be compromised, we intend to
kick up a dust, and die hard.

1766. H. Brooke, Fool of Quality, ii., 41. Our lay and
ecclesiastical champions for arbitrary power ... have raised such a
dust, and kept such a coil about the divine, hereditary, and
indefeasible right of kings.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxxiii. ‘Is there not a strong room
up yonder in the old castle?’ ‘Ay, is there, sir; my uncle the
constable once kept a man there for three days in Auld Ellangowan’s
time. But there was an unco-dust about it—it was tried in the
Inner-house afore the feifteen.’

To throw dust in the eyes, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To mislead; to dupe.—See Bamboozle.

To bite the dust, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To knock under; to be mortified, or shamed.

Dust-bin, subs. (common).—A grave.

Dusted, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—Drubbed; severely criticised.—See Dust one’s jacket and Tanning.

Duster, subs. (tailors’)—A sweetheart. For synonyms, see Jomer.

Dust-hole, subs. (theatrical).—1. The late Prince of Wales’ Theatre in Tottenham Court Road. [From the fact that, fifty years ago, under the management of Mr. Glossop, the sweepings of the house were deposited and suffered to accumulate under the pit.]

1886. John Coleman, in Temple Bar, Feb., p. 225. During his
management of the dusthole (since known as ‘The Prince of
Wales’s’), in Tottenham Court Road.

2. (University).—Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Obsolete.

Dustman, subs. (common).—1. A personification of sleep: ‘the dustman’s coming’ = you are getting sleepy. Cf., dust in the eyes.

1821. Pierce Egan, Tom and Jerry, p. 111. A social glass of wine
beguiled an hour or two, till the dustman made his appearance and
gave the hint to Tom and Jerry that it was time to visit their
beds.

2. (old).—A dead man.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Dusty. Not so dusty, adv. phr. (common).—A term of approval; ‘not so bad’; ‘so-so.’

1854. F. E. Smedley, Harry Coverdale, ch. xlii. ‘Why is the fact of
the contents of a backgammon-board having been thrown out of the
window like Milton’s chef d’œuvre?’ Do you give it up? ‘Because
it’s a pair o’dice lost.’ None so dusty that—eh? for a commoner
like me?

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 28. ‘Well, my dear,’
said Butters in the most patronising way, ‘I know I’m not so dusty,
and if it wasn’t for my disgusting weight I’d pretty soon let ’em
see at Newmarket what I can do.’

Dusty-Bob, subs. (common).—A scavenger.

Dustypoll or Dusty-nob, subs. (old).—A miller. [Dusty, = floury, + poll, or nob = the head.]

Dutch. An epithet of inferiority. A witness, no doubt, to the long-standing hatred engendered by the bitter fight for the supremacy of the seas between England and Holland in the seventeenth century.

Subs. (common).—A wife. [Probably an abbreviation of Dutch clock.]

English Synonyms.—Mollisher; rib; grey-mare; warming-pan; splice; lawful blanket; autem-mort; comfortable impudence; comfortable importance; old woman; evil; missus; lawful jam; yoke-fellow; night-cap; legitimate, or legiti; weight-carrier; mutton-bone; ordinary; pillow-mate; supper-table; Dutch clock; chattel; sleeping-partner; doxy; cooler; mount; bed-fagot.

French Synonyms.—Une marque de cé (thieves’); une légitime (fam. = legitimate); mon gouvernement (pop. = my old woman); mon associée (printers’ = my partner); mon bien (popular, bien = chattel); une gerce (thieves’: also a mattress).

German Synonyms.—Keibe, Keibel, Keife (also = woman or concubine: from O.H.G. Chebisa, M.H.G. Kebese, Kebse = illegitimate); Krönerin (literally a ‘horneress’; Kröne = to be provided with horns); Rammenin (Hanoverian: from the gypsy romnin).

To do a dutch, verb. phr. (military).—To desert; to run away. For synonyms, see Amputate.

That beats the Dutch, phr. (common).—A sarcastic superlative.

1775. Revolutionary Song [New Eng. Hist., Reg. Ap. 1857], p. 191.
And besides all the mortars, bombs, cannons, and shells, And
bullets and guns, as the newspaper tells, Our cargoes of meat,
drink, and cloaths beat the dutch; Now who would not tarry and take
t’other touch?

To talk Dutch, Double-Dutch, or High-Dutch, verb. phr. (common).—To talk gibberish; by implication, nonsense.

1604. Marlowe, Faustus, Sc. iv. Wag. Villain—call me Master Wagner,
and let thy left eye be diametarily fixed upon my right heel, with
quasi vestigiis uostris insistere. Clown. God forgive me, he speaks
dutch fustian.

1790. Dibdin, The Sweet Little Cherub. And, my timbers! what lingo
he’d coil and belay, Why ’twas just all as one as high dutch.

1876. C. H. Wall, trans. Molière, vol. I., p. 116. He never taught
me anything but my prayers, and though I have said them daily now
these fifty years, they are still double dutch to me.

The Dutch have taken Holland, phr. (common).—A quiz for stale news. Cf., Queen Bess (or Queen Anne) is dead; the ark rested on mount Ararat, etc.

Dutch-Auction or Sale, subs. (cheap-jacks’).—A sale at minimum prices; a mock-auction.

1872. Daily Telegraph, 30 Nov. So thoroughly corrupt and vicious
has the existing system become that it would be well-nigh a relief
to fall back on the old dutch auction, by which an article was put
up at a high price, and, if nobody accepted the offer, then reduced
to a lower, the sum first required being gradually decreased until
a fair value was attained.

1885. Punch, 21 Feb., p. 93. Gives up India to Russia, Africa to
Germany, puts up garrisoned fortresses and coaling stations at
dutch auction, and lets colonies run loose.

Dutch-Bargain, subs. (old).—A bargain all on one side.

‘In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch, Is giving too
little and asking too much!’

Dutch-Clock, subs. (music-hall).—1. A wife. Cf., Dutch and sense 2.

2. (common).—A bed-pan.

Dutch-Concert or Medley, subs. (common).—A sing-song whereat everybody sings and plays at the same time as everybody else; a hubbub.

1814. Scott, Waverley, ch. xi. And now the Demon of Politics envied
even the harmony arising from this dutch concert, merely because
there was not a wrathful note in the strange compound of sounds
which it produced.

1871. Daily Telegraph, 23 Mar. ‘Lord Derby on Pauperism.’ It
happens that instead of the harmony which should exist where good
men and good women are, working together for a common object, you
have something like what is popularly known as a dutch concert, or
in other words, every man playing his own tune on his own
instrument.

Dutch Consolation, subs. (common).—Job’s comfort; unconsoling consolation.

1888. All the Year Round, 9 June, p. 542. The expression often
heard, ‘Thank Heaven, it is no worse,’ is sometimes called dutch
consolation.

Dutch-Courage, subs. Pot-valiancy. Cf., Fielding’s Dutch-defence = sham-defence.

1872. Spencer, Study of Sociology, ch. viii., p. 185 (9th ed.). A
dose of brandy, by stimulating the circulation, produces dutch
courage, as it is called.

1887. Mrs. Lovett Cameron, Neck or Nothing, ch. iv., p. 50. Bob
waited half a second for an answer, glancing uneasily at his
friend’s face, and then he dashed on again with a sort of dutch
courage, for, to tell the truth he wasn’t quite sure how Jack would
take it.

Dutch-Feast, subs. (old).—See quot.

1888. All the Year Round, 9 June, p. 542. Dutch feast is a phrase
now obsolete; it was formerly applied to an entertainment where the
host got drunk before his guests.

Dutch-Gleek, subs. (old). Drinks.

1654. Gayton, Fest. Notes, p. 96. Nor could be partaker of any of
the good cheer, except it were the liquid part of it, which they
call dutch gleek, where he plaied his cards so well, and vied and
revled so often, that he had scarce an eye to see withall.

Dutchman. I’m a Dutchman if I do, phr. (common).—A strong refusal. [During the wars between England and Holland, Dutch was synonymous with all that was false and hateful; therefore, ‘I would rather be a Dutchman’ = the strongest term of refusal that words could express.]

1855. Earl Russell, Memoirs of Thomas Moore. Cope mentioned a good
specimen of English-French, and the astonishment of the French
people who heard it, not conceiving what it could mean—‘Si je fais,
je fais; mais si je fais, je suis un Hollandais.’ ‘If I do, I do;
but if I do, I’m a Dutchman.’

Dutchman’s-Breeches, subs. (nautical).—Two streaks of blue in a cloudy sky.

Dutchman’s-Drink, subs. (common).—A draught that empties the pot.

Dutch-treat, subs. (common).—An entertainment where everyone pays his shot.

1887. Lippincott’s Mag., Aug., p. 191. ‘You’ll come along too,
won’t you?’ Lancelot demanded of Ormizon! Dutch treat, vous savez!

Dutch Uncle. I will talk to you like a Dutch uncle, phr. (common).—I will reprove you smartly. [The Dutch were renowned for the brutality of their discipline. Uncle is the Latin notion of pat’ruus, ‘an uncle,’ ‘severe guardian,’ or ‘stern castigator.’ Hence Horace, 3 Od. xii. 3, Metuentes patruæ verbera linguæ (dreading the castigations of an uncle’s tongue); and 2 Sat. iii. 88, Ne sis patruus mihi (Don’t come the uncle over me). A Dutch uncle = therefore, an uncle of peculiar fierceness.]

1853. Notes and Queries, 1 S., vii., 65. In some parts of America,
when a person has determined to give another a regular lecture, he
will often be heard to say, I will talk to him like a dutch uncle;
that is, he shall not escape this time.

1869. East Anglian, vol. III., p. 350. [In list of Suffolk sea
words]: ‘There were the squires on the bench, but I took heart, and
talked to ’em like a dutch uncle.’

Dutch-widow, subs. (old).—A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and cf., Grass-widow.

1608. Middleton, Trick to Catch the Old One, III., iii. Dra. Yes, a
dutch widow. Hoa. How? Dra. That’s an English drab, sir.

Dutch-wife, subs. (common).—A bolster.

Dying in a Horse’s Nightcap. Dying by the rope; cf., Horse’s Nightcap.

E

Eagle-takers, subs. (military).—The Eighty-Seventh Foot. [The title was gained at Barossa (1811), when it captured the eagle of the 8th French Light Infantry. Its colours also bear ‘the plume of the Prince of Wales’ and ‘the harp and crown,’ an eagle with a wreath of laurel.] It was also nicknamed ‘The Old Fogs’; also ‘The Faugh-a-Ballagh Boys,’ from Fag an bealac! = ‘Clear the Way,’ the regimental march, and the war-cry at Barossa.

Ear. To send away with a flea in the ear, verb. phr. (common).—To dismiss peremptorily and with a scolding. Fr., mettre la puce à l’oreille = to get angry.

1764–1817. J. G. Holman, Abroad and at Home, ii., 1. I could not
think of Miss Hartley being troubled with such a brute of a fellow
... so, an’t please you, my lady, I sent him away with a flea in
his ear.

1841. Comic Almanack, p. 280. One thing is very clear, If they
ain’t off of their own accord, the Lord Mayor will soon help ’em
off with a flea in their ear.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 202. Her husband had
with difficulty restrained her from sending Forrest away with what
in homely language is denominated a flea in his ear.

To bite the ear.—See Bite and Break Shins.

To get up on one’s ear, verb. phr. (American).—To bestir oneself; to rouse oneself for an effort.

1870. Richard Grant White. Words and their Uses. They called me
bully boy, altho’ I’ve seen nigh three-score years, And said that I
was lightning when I got up on my ear.

1888. Puck’s Library, May, p. 15. A man who walked on his ear out
of a store said ‘he came out on the Erie route.’

Earl of Cork, subs. phr. (Irish).—The ace of diamonds.—[See quots.]

1830. W. Carleton, Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry. ‘What
do you mean by the Earl of Cork?’ asked Mr. Squander. ‘The ace of
diamonds, your honour. It’s the worst ace, and the poorest card in
the pack, and is called the Earl of Cork, because he’s the poorest
nobleman in Ireland.’

1864. Athenæum, 29 Oct. The ace of diamonds acquired the name of
‘the earl of cork’ because his lordship happened to be the poorest
nobleman in Ireland.

Earl of Mar’s Grey Breeks, subs. phr. (military).—The Twenty-First Foot. [In allusion to the colour of the men’s breeches and to the original title of the regiment, The Earl of Mar’s Fuzileers.] Obsolete.

Early. To get up early, verb. phr. (common).—To be astute; ready; wide-awake. Cf., ‘It’s the early bird that catches the worm.’

1738. Swift, Polite Convers., Dial. 3. They must rise early that
would cheat her of her money.

c. 1869. Vance, Broadside Ballad. For to get me on the hop, or on
my ‘tibby’ drop, You must wake up very early in the morning.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. xlvi. It was said of
him that ... if you wished to take him in you must get up early.

Early-riser, subs. (common).—An aperient. Cf., Custom-house officer and Two gunners and a driver.

Early-worm, subs. (common).—A man who searches the streets at daybreak for cigar stumps.

Earth-bath, subs. (old).—A grave. To take an earth-bath = to be buried; cf., ground sweat.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

Earthquake. Bottled earthquake, subs. phr. (American).—Intoxicating drinks.

Earth-stoppers, subs. (old).—Horse’s feet.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, i., 6. There’s action for
you—there’s one to tip ’em the go-bye at a mill,—there’s
earth-stoppers—quiet to drive, quiet in harness, trots fifteen
miles in less than an hour.

Earthy, adj. (colloquial).—Gross; common; devoid of ‘soul.’

Ear-wig, subs. (old).—A private prompter or flatterer; also (thieves’) a clergyman. [From the popular delusion that the earwig lodges itself in the ear with a view to working its way into the brain when it causes death.]

1639. Beaumont and Fletcher, Bloody Brother. Dram. Personæ, Latorch
Rollo’s Earwig.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter p. 77. And the court, mercy on
us! there are no words equal to the just painting of its ear-wigs,
its sycophants, pensioners, placemen, scouters, masters of the
ceremonies, etc.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, A pack of mouthers, and flatterers,
and ear-wigs.

Verb (common).—To prompt; to influence by covert statements; to whisper insinuations.

1842. Marryat, Percival Keene, xiii. And by way of a hint, make him
your friend if you can, for he earwigs the captain in fine style.

1879. Jas. Payn, High Spirits (Confiscated Weeds). He is a sound
divine and politician, but a little apt to be led away by specious
arguments on the subject of education; and Carker was in the habit
... of earwigging him.

Ease, verb (common).—1. To rob; Fr., soulager. Cf., Annex and Convey. To ease a bloke = to rob a man.

1630. Jonson, New Inn, I. Ease his pockets of a superfluous watch.