Webster 1913: 367

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Page 367

Table of contents

1 Damsel 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Noun 2 Damson 2.1 Etymology 2.2 Noun 3 Dan 3.1 Etymology 1 3.1.1 Noun 3.2 Etymology 2 3.2.1 Noun 4 Danaide 4.1 Etymology 4.2 Noun 5 Danaite 5.1 Etymology 5.2 Noun 6 Danalite 6.1 Etymology 6.2 Noun 7 Danburite 7.1 Etymology 7.2 Noun 8 Dance 8.1 Etymology 8.2 Intransitive verb 8.3 Derived expressions 9 Dance 9.1 Transitive verb 9.2 Derived expression 10 Dance 10.1 Noun 10.2 Derived expressions 11 Dancer 11.1 Noun 11.2 Derived expressions 12 Danceress 12.1 Noun 13 Dancetté 13.1 Etymology 13.2 Adjective 14 Dancing 14.1 Participle 14.2 Derived expressions 15 Dancy 15.1 Adjective 16 Dandelion 16.1 Etymology 16.2 Noun 17 Dander 17.1 Etymology 1 17.2 Noun 17.3 Etymology 2 17.4 Intransitive verb 18 Dandi 18.1 Etymology 18.2 Noun 19 Dandie 19.1 Noun 20 Dandified 20.1 Adjective 21 Dandify 21.1 Etymology 21.2 Transitive verb 22 Dandiprat 22.1 Etymology 22.2 Noun 23 Dandle 23.1 Etymology 23.2 Transitive verb 24 Dandler 24.1 Noun 25 Dandriff 25.1 Noun 26 Dandruff 26.1 Variant 26.2 Etymology 26.3 Noun 27 Dandy 27.1 Noun 27.2 Etymology 1 27.2.1 Noun 27.3 Etymology 2 27.3.1 Noun 27.3.2 Derived expressions 28 Dandy-cock 28.1 Etymology 28.2 Masculine noun 29 Dandy-hen 29.1 Etymology 29.2 Feminine noun 30 Dandyish 30.1 Adjective 31 Dandyism 31.1 Noun 32 Dandyise 32.1 Transitive and intransitive verb 33 Dandyling 33.1 Etymology 33.2 Noun 34 Dane 34.1 Etymology 34.2 Noun 34.3 Derived expression 35 Danegeld 35.1 Variant 35.2 Etymology 35.3 Noun 36 Danewort 36.1 Noun 37 Dangerful 37.1 Adjective 38 Dangerfully 38.1 Adverb 39 Dangerless 39.1 Adjective 40 Dangerous 40.1 Etymology 40.2 Adjective 41 Dangerously 41.1 Adverb 41.2 Noun 42 Dangle 42.1 Etymology 42.2 Intransitive verb 42.3 Derived expression 43 Dangle 43.1 Transitive verb 44 Dangleberry 44.1 Noun 45 Dangler 45.1 Noun 46 Daniel 46.1 Etymology 46.2 Noun 47 Danish 47.1 Etymology 47.2 Adjective 47.3 Noun 47.4 Derived expressions 48 Danite 48.1 Noun 49 Dank 49.1 Etymology 1 49.1.1 Adjective 49.1.2 Noun 49.2 Etymology 2 49.2.1 Noun 50 Dankish 50.1 Adjective 50.2 Derived word 51 Dankishness 51.1 Noun 52 Dannebrog 52.1 Noun 53 Danseuse 53.1 Etymology 53.2 Noun 54 Dansk 54.1 Etymology 54.2 Adjective 55 Dansker 55.1 Noun 56 Dantean 56.1 Adjective 57 Dantesque 57.1 Etymology 57.2 Adjective 58 Danubian 58.1 Adjective 59 Dap 59.1 Intransitive verb 59.2 Etymology 59.3 Intransitive verb 60 Dapatical 60.1 Etymology 60.2 Adjective 61 Daphne 61.1 Etymology 61.2 Noun 62 Daphnetin 62.1 Noun 63 Daphnia 63.1 Etymology 63.2 Noun 64 Daphniidae 64.1 Noun 65 Daphnin 65.1 Etymology 65.2 Noun 66 Daphnomancy 66.1 Etymology 66.2 Noun 67 Dapifer 67.1 Etymology 67.2 Noun 68 Dapper 68.1 Etymology 68.2 Adjective 69 Dapperling 69.1 Noun 70 Dapple 70.1 Etymology 70.2 Noun 70.3 Adjective 70.4 Transitive verb 71 Darbies 71.1 Etymology 71.2 Plural noun 72 Darby 72.1 Noun 73 Darbyite 73.1 Etymology 73.2 Noun 74 Dardanian 74.1 Etymology 74.2 Adjective and noun 75 Dare 75.1 Etymology 1 75.1.1 Intransitive verb 75.1.2 Transitive verb 75.1.3 Noun 76 Dare 76.1 Etymology 2 76.1.1 Intransitive verb 76.1.2 Transitive verb 76.1.3 Derived expression 76.2 Etymology 3 76.2.1 Noun 77 Dare-devil 77.1 Noun 78 Dare-deviltry 78.1 Noun 79 Dareful 79.1 Adjective 80 Darer 80.1 Noun 81 Darg 81.1 Variant 81.2 Etymology 81.3 Noun 82 Daric 82.1 Etymology 82.2 Noun 83 Daring 83.1 Noun 84 Daring 84.1 Adjective 85 Daringly 85.1 Adverb 86 Daringness 86.1 Noun 87 Dark 87.1 Etymology 87.2 Adjective 87.3 Derivative expressions 87.4 Noun 87.5 Transitive verb 88 Darken 88.1 Etymology 88.2 Transitive verb 88.3 Intransitive verb 89 Darkener 89.1 Noun 90 Darkening 90.1 Noun 91 Darkful 91.1 Adjective 92 Darkish 92.1 Adjective 93 Darkle 93.1 Etymology 93.2 Intransitive verb 94 Darkling 94.1 Etymology 94.2 Adverb 94.3 Present participle and adjective 95 Darkly 95.1 Adverb 96 Darkness 96.1 Noun 96.2 Derived expressions 96.3 Synonym 97 Darksome 97.1 Adjective 98 Darky 98.1 Noun 99 Darling 99.1 Etymology 99.2 Noun 99.3 Adjective 100 Darlingtonia 100.1 Etymology 100.2 Noun 101 Darn 101.1 Etymology 1 101.1.1 Transitive verb 101.1.1.1 Derived expressions 101.1.2 Noun 101.2 Etymology 2 101.2.1 Transitive verb 102 Darnel 102.1 Etymology 102.2 Noun 103 Darner 103.1 Noun 104 Darnex 104.1 Noun 105 Darnic 105.1 Noun 106 Daroo 106.1 Noun 107 Darr 107.1 Noun 108 Darraign 108.1 Variants 108.2 Etymology 108.3 Transitive verb 109 Darrain 109.1 Transitive verb 110 Darrein 110.1 Adjective 110.2 Etymology 111 Dartars 111.1 Etymology 111.2 Noun 112 Darter 112.1 Noun 113 Dartingly 113.1 Adverb 114 Dartle 114.1 Etymology 114.2 Transitive and Intransitive verb 115 Dartoic 115.1 Adjective 116 Dartoid 116.1 Etymology 116.2 Adjective 117 Dartos 117.1 Etymology 117.2 Noun 118 Dartrous 118.1 Etymology 118.2 Adjective 118.3 Derived expression 119 Darwinian 119.1 Etymology 119.2 Adjective 119.3 Noun 120 Darwinianism 120.1 Noun 121 Darwinism 121.1 Variant 121.2 Noun 122 Dase 122.1 Transitive verb 123 Dasewe 123.1 Etymology 123.2 Intransitive verb 124 Dash 124.1 Etymology 124.2 Transitive verb 124.3 Intransitive verb 124.4 Noun 125 Dashboard 125.1 Noun 126 Dasher 126.1 Noun 127 Dashing 127.1 Adjective 128 Dashingly 128.1 Adverb 129 Dashism 129.1 Noun 130 Dashpot 130.1 Noun 131 Dashy 131.1 Etymology 131.2 Adjective 132 Dastard 132.1 Etymology 132.2 Noun 132.3 Adjective 132.4 Transitive verb 133 Dastardize 133.1 Transitive verb 134 Dastardliness 134.1 Noun 135 Dastardly 135.1 Adjective 136 Dastardness 136.1 Noun 137 Dastardy 137.1 Noun 138 Daswe 138.1 Intransitive verb 139 Dasymeter 139.1 Etymology 139.2 Noun 140 Dasypaedal 140.1 Adjective 141 Dasypaedes 141.1 Etymology 141.2 Plural noun 142 Dasypaedic 142.1 Adjective 143 Dasyure 143.1 Etymology 143.2 Noun 144 Dasyurine 144.1 Adjective 145 Data 145.1 Etymology 145.2 Plural noun 146 Datable 146.1 Adjective 147 Dataria 147.1 Etymology 147.2 Noun 148 Datary 148.1 Etymology 148.2 Noun

Damsel

Etymology

Old English damosel, damesel, damisel, damsel, from Old French damoisele, damisele gentlewoman, French demoiselle young lady; compare Old French damoisel young nobleman, French damoiseau; from Late Latin domicella, dominicella, feminine, domicellus, dominicellus, masculine, diminutive from Latin domina, dominus. See dame, and compare demoiselle, doncella

Noun

1. (Obsolete): A young person, either male or female, of noble or gentle extraction; as, Damsel Pepin; Damsel Richard, Prince of Wales
2. A young unmarried woman; a girl; a maiden.

   Quotations

   • With her train of damsels she was gone, In shady walks the scorching heat to shum. - Dryden
   • Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, . . . Goes by to towered Cameleot. - Tennyson

3. (Milling): An attachment to a millstone spindle for shaking the hoppe.

Damson

Etymology

Old English damasin the Damascus plum, from Latin damascenus. See damascene

Noun

1. A small oval plum of a blue color, the fruit of a variety of the Prunus domestica; -- called also damask plum.

Dan

Etymology 1

Old English dan, danz, Old French. danz (properly only nominative), dan, master, from Latin dominus. See dame

Noun

1. (Obsolete): A title of honor equivalent to master, or sir.

   Quotations

   • Old Dan Geoffry, in gently spright The pure wellhead of poetry did dwell. - Spenser
   • What time Dan Abraham left the Chaldee land. - Thomson

Etymology 2

Uncertain

Noun

1. (Mining): A small truck or sledge used in coal mines.

Danaide

Etymology

From the mythical Danaides, who were condemned to fill with water a vessel full of holes

Noun

1. (Machines): A water wheel having a vertical axis, and an inner and outer tapering shell, between which are vanes or floats attached usually to both shells, but sometimes only to one.

Danaite

Etymology

Named after J. Freeman Dana

Noun

1. (Mineralogy): A cobaltiferous variety of arsenopyrite

Danalite

Etymology

Named after James Dwight Dana

Noun

1. (Mineralogy): A mineral occuring in octahedral crystals, also massive, of a reddish color. It is a silicate of iron, zinc manganese, and glicinum, containing sulphur.

Danburite

Etymology

Named after Danbury, CT

Noun

1. (Mineralogy): A borosilicate of lime, first found at Danbury, Conn. It is near the topaz in form. - Dana

Dance

Etymology

French danser, from Old High German dansn to draw; akin to dinsan to draw, Gothic apinsan, and probably from the same root (meaning to stretch) as English thin

Intransitive verb

Imperfect and past participle: danced
Present participle: dancing

1. To move with measured steps, or to a musical accompaniment; to go through, either alone or in company with others, with a regulated succession of movements, (commonly) to the sound of music; to trip or leap rhytmically.

   Quotations

   • Jack shall pipe and Gill shall dance. - Wiher
   • Good shepherd, what fair swain is this Which dances with your dauther? - Shakespeare,

2. To move nimbly or merrily; to express pleasure by motion; to caper; to frisk; to skip about.

   Quotations

   • Then, 'tis time to dance off. - Thackeray
   • More dances my rapt heart Than when I first my wedded mistress saw. - Shakespeare,
   • Shadows in the glassy waters dance. Byron.
   • Where rivulets dance their wayward round. - Wordsworth

Derived expressions

• To dance on a rope, To dance on nothing, to be hanged.

Dance

Transitive verb

1. To cause to dance, or move nimbly or merrily about, or up and down; to dandle.

   Quotations

   • To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind. Shakespeare,
   • Thy grandsire loved thee well; Many a time he danced thee on his knee. Shakespeare,

Derived expression

• To dance attendance, to come and go obsequiously; to be or remain in waiting, at the beck and call of another, with a view to please or gain favor.

1. Quotations

   • A man of his place, and so near our favor, To dance attendance on their lordships' pleasure. Shakespeare,

Dance

Noun

1. The leaping, tripping, or measured stepping of one who dances; an amusement, in which the movements of the persons are regulated by art, in figures and in accord with music.
2. (Music): A tune by which dancing is regulated, as the minuet, the waltz, the cotillon, etc.

   Note: The word dance was used ironically, by the older writers, of many proceedings besides dancing.

   Quotations

   • Of remedies of love she knew parchance For of that art she couth the olde dance. - Chaucer

Derived expressions

• Dance of Death (Art), an allegorical representation of the power of death over all, -- the old, the young, the high, and the low, being led by a dancing skeleton
• Morris dance. See Morris
• To lead one a dance, to cause one to go through a series of movements or experiences as if guided by a partner in a dance not understood.

Dancer

Noun

1. One who dances or who practices dancing.

Derived expressions

• The merry dancers, beams of the northern lights when they rise and fall alternately without any considerable change of length. See Aurora borealis, under Aurora

Danceress

Noun

1. (Obsolete): A female dancer. - Wyclif

Dancetté

Etymology

Compare French danché dancetté, dent tooth

Adjective

1. (Heraldry): Deeply indented; having large teeth; thus, a fess dancetté has only three teeth in the whole width of the escutcheon.

Dancing

Participle

from Dance

Derived expressions

• Dancing girl, one of the women in the East Indies whose profession is to dance in the temples, or for the amusement of spectators. There are various classes of dancing girls
• Dancing master, a teacher of dancing
• Dancing school, a school or place where dancing is taught.

Dancy

Adjective

1. (Heraldry): same as Dancetté

Dandelion

Etymology

French dent de lion lion's tooth, from Latin dens tooth + leo lion. See tooth, noun, and lion

Noun

1. (Botany): A well-known plant of the genus Taraxacum (T. officinale, formerly called T. dens-leonis and Leontodos taraxacum) bearing large, yellow, compound flowers, and deeply notched leaves.

Dander

Etymology 1

Corrupted from dandruff

Noun

1. Dandruff or scurf on the head.
2. (Low): Anger or vexation; rage - Halliwell

Etymology 2

See dandle

Intransitive verb

1. (Provincial English): To wander about; to saunter; to talk incoherently. - Halliwell

Dandi

Etymology

Hindi, from an oar

Noun

1. (India): A boatman; an oarsman

Dandie

Noun

1. (Zoölogy): One of a breed of small terriers; -- called also Dandie Dinmont.

Dandified

Adjective

1. Made up like a dandy; having the dress or manners of a dandy; buckish.

Dandify

Etymology

Dandy + -fy

Transitive verb

Imperfect and past participle: dandified
Present participle: dandifying

1. To cause to resemble a dandy; to make dandyish.

Dandiprat

Etymology

Dandy + brat child

Noun

1. A little fellow; -- in sport or contempt.

   Quotations

   • A dandiprat hop-thumb." - Stanyhurst

2. A small coin.

   Quotations

   • Henry VII stamped a small coin called dandiprats. - Camden

Dandle

Etymology

Compare German dändeln to trifle, dandle, Old Dutch and Provincial German danten, German tand trifle, prattle; Scots dandill, dander, to go about idly, to trifle

Transitive verb

Imperfect and past participle: dandled
Present participle: dandling

1. To move up and down on one's knee or in one's arms, in affectionate play, as an infant.

   Quotations

   • Ye shall be dandled . . . upon her knees. - Is.?

2. To treat with fondness, as if a child; to fondle; to toy with; to pet.

   Quotations

   • They have put me in a silk gown and gaudy fool's cap; I as ashamed to be dandled thus. - Addison
   • The book, thus dandled into popularity by bishops and good ladies, contained many pieces of nursery eloquence. - Jeffrey

3. (Obsolete): To play with; to put off or delay by trifles; to wheedle. [Obs.]

   Quotations

   • Captains do so dandle their doings, and dally in the service, as it they would not have the enemy subdued. - Spenser

Dandler

Noun

1. One who dandles or fondles.

Dandriff

Noun

1. See dandruff. - Swift

Dandruff

Variant

• dandriff

Etymology

Probably from Welsh toncrust, peel, skin + Anglo Saxon drf dirty, draffy, or Welsh drwg bad: compare Anglo Saxon tan a letter, an eruption

Noun

1. A scurf which forms on the head, and comes off in small or particles

Dandy

Noun

Plural: dandies

Etymology 1

Compare French dandin, ninny, silly fellow, dandiner to waddle, to play the fool; probably. allied to English dandle

Noun

1. One who affects special finery or gives undue attention to dress; a fop; a coxcomb.

Etymology 2

Uncertain

Noun

1. (Nautical): A sloop or cutter with a jigger on which a lugsail is set.
2. (Nautical): A small sail carried at or near the stern of small boats; -- called also jigger, and mizzen.

• A dandy roller. See below.

Derived expressions

• Dandy brush, a yard whalebone brush. --
• Dandy fever. See Dengue
• Dandy line, a kind of fishing line to which are attached several crosspieces of whalebone which carry a hook at each end
• Dandy roller, a roller sieve used in machines for making paper, to press out water from the pulp, and set the paper.

Dandy-cock

Etymology

See dandy

Masculine noun

Feminine: Dandy-hen==

1. A bantam fowl.

Dandy-hen

Etymology

See dandy

Feminine noun

Masculine: dandy-cock

1. A bantam fowl.

Dandyish

Adjective

Like a dandy

Dandyism

Noun

The manners and dress of a dandy; foppishness - Byron

Dandyise

Transitive and intransitive verb

To make, or to act, like a dandy; to dandify

Dandyling

Etymology

Dandy + ling

Noun

1. A little or insignificant dandy; a contemptible fop

Dane

Etymology

Late Latin Dani: compare Anglo Saxon Dene

Noun

A native, or a naturalized inhabitant, of Denmark

Derived expression

• Great Dane. (Zoölogy) See Danish dog, under Danish

Danegeld

Variant

• Danegelt

Etymology

Anglo Saxon danegeld. See Dane, and geld, noun

Noun

1. (English History): An annual tax formerly laid on the English nation to buy off the ravages of Danish invaders, or to maintain forces to oppose them. It afterward became a permanent tax, raised by an assessment, at first of one shilling, afterward of two shillings, upon every hide of land throughout the realm. - Wharton's Law Dict. Tomlins

Danewort

Noun

1. (Botany): A fetid European species of elder (Sambucus Ebulus); dwarf elder; wallwort; elderwort; -- called also Daneweed, Dane's weed, and Dane's-blood. [Said to grow on spots where battles were fought against the Danes.]

Dangerful

Adjective

1. (Obsolete) Full of danger; dangerous.

Dangerfully

Adverb

1. (Obsolete): In a dangerful manner - Udall

Dangerless

Adjective

1. (Rare) Free from danger

Dangerous

Etymology

Old English, haughty, difficult, dangerous, from Old French dangereus, French dangereux. See danger.

Adjective

1. Attended or beset with danger; full of risk; perilous; hazardous; unsafe.

   Quotations

   • Our troops set forth to-morrow; stay with us; The ways are dangerous. Shakespeare, King Lear, IV-v
   • It is dangerous to assert a negative. - Macaulay

2. Causing danger; ready to do harm or injury.

   Quotations

   • If they incline to think you dangerous To less than gods. - Milton

3. (Colloquial): In a condition of danger, as from illness; threatened with death. - Forby, Bartlett
4. (Obsolete): Hard to suit; difficult to please

   Quotations

   • My wages ben full strait, and eke full small; My lord to me is hard and dangerous. - Chaucer

5. (Obsolete): Reserved; not affable

   Quotations

   • Of his speech dangerous. - Chaucer

Dangerously

Adverb

1. In a dangerous manner

==Dangerousness

Noun

1. The degree of danger

Dangle

Etymology

Akin to Danish dangle, dialect Swedish dangla, Danish dingle, Swedish dingla, Icelandic dingla; perhaps from English ding

Intransitive verb

Imperfect and past participle: dangled
Present participle: dangling

1. To hang loosely, or with a swinging or jerking motion.

   Quotations

   • he'd rather on a gibbet dangle Than miss his dear delight, to wrangle. - Hudibras
   • From her lifted hand Dangled a length of ribbon. - Tennyson

Derived expression

• To dangle about or after: to hang upon importunately; to court the favor of; to beset.

1. Quotations

   • The Presbyterians, and other fanatics that dangle after them, are well inclined to pull down the present establishment. - Swift

Dangle

Transitive verb

1. To cause to dangle; to swing, as something suspended loosely; as, to dangle the feet.

   Quotations

   • And the bridegroom stood dangling his bonnet and plume. - Sir W. Scott

Dangleberry

Noun

1. (Botany): A dark blue, edible berry with a white bloom, and its shrub (Gaylussacia frondosa) closely allied to the common huckleberry. The bush is also called blue tangle, and is found from New England to Kentucky, and southward.

Dangler

Noun

1. One who dangles about or after others, especially after women; a trifler.

   Quotations

   • Danglers at toilets." - Burke

Daniel

Etymology

Eponymous for the Biblical personage

Noun

1. A Hebrew prophet distinguished for sagacity and ripeness of judgment in youth; hence, a sagacious and upright judge.

   Quotations

   • A Daniel come to judgment. - Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, IV-i

Danish

Etymology

See Dane

Adjective

1. Belonging to the Danes, or to their language or country

Noun

1. The language of the Danes

Derived expressions

• Danish dog (Zoölogy): one of a large and powerful breed of dogs reared in Denmark; -- called also great Dane

Danite

Noun

1. A descendant of Dan; an Israelite of the tribe of Dan. - Judges 13:2
2. (United States), (So called in remembrance of the prophecy in Genesis 49:17, Dan shall be a serpent by the way," etc.): One of a secret association of Mormons, bound by an oath to obey the heads of the church in all things

Dank

Etymology 1

Compare dialect Swedish dank a moist place in a field, Icelandic.dökk pit, pool; possibly akin to English. damp or to daggle dew

Adjective

1. Damp; moist; humid; wet.

   Quotations

   • Now that the fields are dank and ways are mire. - Milton
   • Cheerless watches on the cold, dank ground. - Trench

Noun

1. (Obsolete): Moisture; humidity; water

Etymology 2

Persian

Noun

A small silver coin current in Persia.

Dankish

Adjective

1. Somewhat dank

   Quotations

   • In a dark and dankish vault at home. - Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors, V-i

Derived word

• Dankishness

Dankishness

Noun

1. The quality of being dankish

Dannebrog

Noun

1. The ancient battle standard of Denmark, bearing figures of cross and crown. Order of Dannebrog, an ancient Danish order of knighthood.

Danseuse

Etymology

French, from danser to dance

Noun

1. a professional female dancer; a woman who dances at a public exhibition as in a ballet.

Dansk

Etymology

Danish

Adjective

1. (Obsolete): Danish.

Dansker

Noun

1. (Obsolete): A Dane

   Quotations

   • Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris. - Shakespeare, Hamlet, II-i

Dantean

Adjective

1. Relating to, emanating from or resembling, the poet Dante or his writings.

Dantesque

Etymology

Compare Italian Dantesco

Adjective

1. Dantelike; Dantean. - Earle

Danubian

Adjective

1. Pertaining to, or bordering on, the river Danube.

Dap

Intransitive verb

Etymology

Compare dip

Intransitive verb

(Angling): To drop the bait gently on the surface of the water.

1. Quotations

   • To catch a club by dapping with a grasshoper. - Walton

Dapatical

Etymology

Latin dapaticus, from daps feast

Adjective

1. (Obsolete): Sumptuous in cheer. - Bailey

Daphne

Etymology

Latin, a laurel tree, from Greek

Noun

1. (Botany): A genus of diminutive shrubs, mostly evergreen, and with fragrant blossoms.
2. (Mythology): A nymph of Diana, fabled to have been changed into a laurel tree.

Daphnetin

Noun

1. (Chemistry): A colorless crystalline substance, C₉H₆O₄, extracted from daphnin.

Daphnia

Etymology

New Latin

Noun

1. (Zoölogy): A genus of water fleas in the family Daphniidae.

Daphniidae

Noun

1. (Zoölogy): A family of water fleas in the Brachiopod order Diplostraca

Daphnin

Etymology

Compare French daphnine

Noun

1. (Chemistry)(Rare): A dark green bitter resin extracted from the mezereon (Daphne mezereum) and regarded as the essential principle of the plant
2. (Chemistry): A white, crystalline, bitter substance, regarded as a glucoside, and extracted from Daphne mezereum and Daphne alpina

Daphnomancy

Etymology

Greek δαφνη the laurel + -mancy

Noun

1. Divination by means of the laurel.

Dapifer

Etymology

Latin, daps a feast + ferre to bear

Noun

1. One who brings meat to the table; hence, in some countries, the official title of the grand master or steward of the king's or a nobleman's household.

Dapper

Etymology

Old English daper; probably from Dutch dapper brave, valiant; akin to German tapfer brave, Old High German taphar heavy, weighty, Old Slavic dobrû good, Russian dobrui. Compare deft

Adjective

1. Little and active; spruce; trim; smart; neat in dress or appearance; lively.

   Quotations

   • He wondered how so many provinces could be held in subjection by such a dapper little man. - Milton
   • The dapper ditties that I wont devise. - Spenser
   • Sharp-nosed, dapper steam yachts. - Julian Hawthorne

Dapperling

Noun

1. (Rare): A dwarf; a dandiprat

Dapple

Etymology

Compare Icelandic depill a spot, a dot, a dog with spots over the eyes, dapi a pool, and English dimple

Noun

1. One of the spots on a dappled animal.

   Quotations

   • He has . . . as many eyes on his body as my gray mare hath dapples. - Sir P. Sidney

Adjective

also as dappled

1. Marked with spots of different shades of color; spotted; variegated; as, a dapple horse.

   Quotations

   • Some dapple mists still floated along the peaks. - Sir W. Scott

   Note The word is used in composition to denote that some color is variegated or marked with spots; as, dapple-bay; dapple-gray.

   Quotations

   • His steed was all dapple-gray. - Chaucer
   • O, swiftly can speed my dapple-gray steed. Sir W. Scott

Transitive verb

Imperfect and past participle: dappled
Present participle: dappling

1. To variegate with spots; to spot.

   Quotations

   • The gentle day, . . . Dapples the drowsy east with spots of grey. - Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, V-iii
     • Note: For this quotation various editions of Shakespeare use the spelling “grey”, while websites that slavishly copy the 1913 Webster use the spelling “gray”
   • The dappled pink and blushing rose. - Prior

Darbies

Etymology

Cant

Plural noun

1. Manacles; handcuffs

   Quotations

   • Jem Clink will fetch you the darbies. - Sir W. Scott
   • 1576: To binde such babes in father Derbies bands. - Gascoigne, In The Steel Glass

Darby

Noun

1. A plasterer's float, having two handles; -- used in smoothing ceilings, etc.

Darbyite

Etymology

eponymous from John N. Darby, one of the leaders of the Brethren.

Noun

1. One of the Plymouth Brethren, or of a sect among them

Dardanian

Etymology

From Latin Dardania, poetic name of Troy

Adjective and noun

1. Trojan.

Dare

Etymology 1

Old English I dar, dear, I dare, imperfect dorste, durste, Anglo Saxon ic dear I dare, imperfect dorste, infinitive durran; akin to Old Saxon gidar, gidorsta, gidurran, Old High German tar, torsta, turran, Gothic gadar, [[gadaúrsta, Greek tharsei^n, tharrei^n, to be bold, tharsy`s bold, Sanskrit dhrsh to be bold

Intransitive verb

Imperfect: durst or dared
Past participle: dared;
Present participle: daring
The present tense, I dare, is really an old past tense, so that the third person is he dare, but the form he dares is now often used, and will probably displace the obsolescent he dare, through grammatically as incorrect as he shalls or he cans. - Skeat
Formerly durst was also used as the present. Sometimes the old form dare is found for durst or dared.

1. To have adequate or sufficient courage for any purpose; to be bold or venturesome; not to be afraid; to venture.

   Quotations

   • I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none. - Shakespeare, Macbeth, I-vii
   • Why then did not the ministers use their new law? Bacause they durst not, because they could not. - Macaulay
   • Who dared to sully her sweet love with suspicion. - Thackeray
   • The tie of party was stronger than the tie of blood, because a partisan was more ready to dare without asking why. - Jowett (Thuyd.)
   • The pore dar plede (the poor man dare plead). - P. Plowman.
   • You know one dare not discover you. - Dryden
   • The fellow dares not deceive me. - Shakespeare, Cymbeline, IV-i
   • Here boldly spread thy hands, no venom'd weed Dares blister them, no slimly snail dare creep. - Beau. & Fl.

Transitive verb

Imperfect and past participle: dared;
Present participle: daring.] 1. To have courage for; to attempt courageously; to venture to do or to undertake.

1. Quotations

   • What high concentration of steady feeling makes men dare every thing and do anything? - Bagehot
   • To wrest it from barbarism, to dare its solitudes. - The Century

2. To challenge; to provoke; to defy.

   Quotations

   • Time, I dare thee to discover Such a youth and such a lover. - Dryden

Noun

1. (Rare): The quality of daring; venturesomeness; boldness; dash.

   Quotations

   • It lends a luster . . . A larger dare to our great enterprise. - Shakespeare, Henry IV Part I, IV-i
     • Note: “large” in Webster is a misquote; it does not scan correctly

2. Defiance; challenge.

   Quotations

   • Childish, unworthy dares Are not enought to part our powers. - Chapman
   • Sextus Pompeius Hath given the dare to Cæsar. - Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, I-ii

Dare

Etymology 2

Old English darien, to lie hidden, be timid

Intransitive verb

1. (Obsolete): To lurk; to lie hid. - Chaucer

Transitive verb

1. (Obsolete): To terrify; to daunt

   Quotations

   • For I have done those follies, those mad mischiefs, Would dare a woman. - Beau. & Fl.

Derived expression

• To dare larks, to catch them by producing terror through to use of mirrors, scarlet cloth, a hawk, etc., so that they lie still till a net is thrown over them. - Nares

Etymology 3

See dace

Noun

1. (Zoölogy): A small fish; the dace.

Dare-devil

Noun

A reckless fellow. Also used adjectively; as, dare-devil excitement.

1. Quotations

   • A humorous dare-devil -- the very man To suit my prpose. - Ld. Lytton

Dare-deviltry

Noun

Plural: dare-deviltries

1. Reckless mischief; the action of a dare-devil.

Dareful

Adjective

1. (Rare): Full af daring or of defiance; adveturous.

   Quotations

   • We might have met them dareful, beard to beard, - Shakespeare, Macbeth, V-v

Darer

Noun

One who dares or defies.

Darg

Variant

Dargue

Etymology

Scots, contraction from day work

Noun

1. (Local, England and Scotland): A day's work; also, a fixed amount of work, whether more or less than that of a day

Daric

Etymology

Greek , of Persian origin

Noun

1. (Antiquities): A gold coin of ancient Persia, weighing usually a little more than 128 grains, and bearing on one side of the figure of an archer
2. (Antiquities): A silver coin of about 86 grains, having the figure of an archer, and hence, in modern times, called a daric.
3. Any very pure gold coin.

Daring

Noun

1. Boldness; fearlessness; adventurousness; also, a daring act.

Daring

Adjective

1. Bold; fearless; adventurous; as, daring spirits.

Daringly

Adverb

1. In a daring manner

Daringness

Noun

1. The quality of daring

Dark

Etymology

Old English dark, derk, deork, Anglo Saxon dearc, deorc; compare Gaelic and Irish dorch, dorcha, dark, black, dusky

Adjective

1. Destitute, or partially destitute, of light; not receiving, reflecting, or radiating light; wholly or partially black, or of some deep shade of color; not light-colored; as, a dark room; a dark day; dark cloth; dark paint; a dark complexion.

   Quotations

   • O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverable dark, total eclipse Without all hope of day! - Milton
   • In the dark and silent grave. - Sir W. Raleigh

2. Not clear to the understanding; not easily through; obscure; mysterious; hidden.

   Quotations

   • The dark problems of existence. - Shairp
   • What may seem dark at the first, will afterward be found more plain. - Hooker
   • What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this light word? - Shakespeare, Love’s Labours Lost, V-ii

3. Destitute of knowledge and culture; in moral or intellectual darkness; unrefined; ignorant.

   Quotations

   • The age wherin he lived was dark, but he Could not want light who taught the world to see. - Denhan
   • The tenth century used to be reckoned by mediæval historians as the darkest part of this intellectual night. - Hallam

4. Evincing black or foul traits of character; vile; wicked; atrocious; as, a dark villain; a dark deed.

   Quotations

   • Left him at large to his own dark designs. - Milton

5. Foreboding evil; gloomy; jealous; suspicious.

   Quotations

   • More dark and dark our woes. - Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, III-v
   • A deep melancholy took possesion of him, and gave a dark tinge to all his views of human nature. - Macaulay
   • There is, in every true woman-s heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. - W. Irving

6. (Obsolete): Deprived of sight; blind

   Quotations

   • He was, I think, at this time quite dark, and so had been for some years. - Evelyn

Derivative expressions

Dark is sometimes used to qualify another adjective; as, dark blue, dark green, and sometimes it forms the first part of a compound; as, dark-haired, dark-eyed, dark-colored, dark-seated, dark-working

• A dark horse (Colloquial), in racing or politics, a horse or a candidate whose chances of success are not known, and whose capabilities have not been made the subject of general comment or of wagers
• Dark house, Dark room (Obsolete), a house or room in which madmen were confined.

  Quotations

  • deserves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen do - Shakespeare, As You Like It, III-ii

• Dark lantern. See lantern
• The Dark Ages, a period of stagnation and obscurity in literature and art, lasting, according to Hallam, nearly 1000 years, from about 500 to about 1500. See Middle Ages, under middle
• The Dark and Bloody Ground, a phrase applied to the State of Kentucky, and said to be the significance of its name, in allusion to the frequent wars that were waged there between Indians
• The dark day, a day (May 19, 1780) when a remarkable and unexplained darkness extended over all New England
• To keep dark (Low), to reveal nothing

Noun

1. Absence of light; darkness; obscurity; a place where there is little or no light.

   Quotations

   • Here stood he in the dark, his sharp sword out. - Shakespeare, King Lear, II-i

2. The condition of ignorance; gloom; secrecy.

   Quotations

   • Look, what you do, you do it still i' th' dark. - Shakespeare, Love’s Labours Lost, V-ii
   • Till we perceive by our own understandings, we are as muc in the dark, and as void of knowledge, as before. - Locke

3. (Fine Arts): A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, or the like; as, the light and darks are well contrasted.

   Quotations

   • The lights may serve for a repose to the darks, and the darks to the lights. - Dryden

Transitive verb

1. (Obsolete): To darken to obscure. - Milton

Darken

Etymology

Anglo Saxon deorcian. See dark

Transitive verb

Imperfect and past participle: darkened
Present participle: Darkening

1. To make dark or black; to deprite of light; to obscure; as, a darkened room.

   Quotations

   • They [locusts] covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened. - Exodus 10:15
   • So spake the Sovran Voice; and clouds began To darken all the hill. - Milton

2. To render dim; to deprive of vision.

   Quotations

   • Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. - Romans 11:10

3. To cloud, obscure, or perplex; to render less clear or intelligible.

   Quotations

   • Such was his wisdom that his confidence did seldom darkenhis foresight. - Bacon
   • Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? - Job. 38:2.

4. To cast a gloom upon.

   Quotations

   • With these forc’d thoughts, I prithee, darken not The mirth o’ the feast. - Shakespeare, Winter’s Tale, IV-iv

5. To make foul; to sully; to tarnish.

   Quotations

   • I must not think there are Evils enow to darken all his goodness. - Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, I-iv

Intransitive verb

1. To grow darker.

Darkener

Noun

1. One who, or that which, darkens.

Darkening

Noun

1. (Provincial English and Scots): Twilight; gloaming - Wright

Darkful

Adjective

1. (Obsolete): Full of darkness

Darkish

Adjective

1. Somewhat dark; dusky.

Darkle

Etymology

Frequentative of dark

Intransitive verb

1. To grow dark; to show indistinctly. - Thackeray

Darkling

Etymology

Dark + the adverbial suffix -ling

Adverb

1. (Poetic): In the dark

   Quotations

   • So, out went the candle, and we were left darkling. - Shakespeare, King Lear, I-iv
   • As the wakeful bird Sings darkling. - Milton

Present participle and adjective

1. Becoming dark or gloomy; frowning.

   Quotations

   • His honest brows darkling as he looked towards me. - Thackeray

2. Dark; gloomy. The darkling precipice. - Moore

Darkly

Adverb

1. With imperfect light, clearness, or knowledge; obscurely; dimly; blindly; uncertainly.

   Quotations

   • What fame to future times conveys but darkly down. - Dryden
   • so softly dark and darkly pure. - Byron

2. With a dark, gloomy, cruel, or menacing look.

   Quotations

   • Looking darkly at the clerguman. - Hawthorne

Darkness

Noun

1. The absence of light; blackness; obscurity; gloom.

   Quotations

   • And darkness was upon the face of the deep. - Genesis 1-2

2. A state of privacy; secrecy.

1. Quotations

   • What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light. - Matthew 10:27.

2. A state of ignorance or error, especially on moral or religious subjects; hence, wickedness; impurity.

   Quotations

   • Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. - John. 3:19
   • Pursue these sons of darkness: drive them out From all heaven's bounds. - Milton

3. Want of clearness or perspicuity; obscurity; as, the darkness of a subject, or of a discussion.
4. A state of distress or trouble.

   Quotations

   • A day of clouds and of thick darkness. - Joel 2:2

Derived expressions

• Prince of darkness, the Devil; Satan

1. Quotations

   • In the power of the Prince of darkness. - Locke

Synonym

• Darkness, Dimness, Obscurity, Gloom
• Darkness arises from a total, and dimness from a partial, want of light. A thing is obscure when so overclouded or covered as not to be easily perceived. As the shade or obscurity increases, it deepens into gloom. What is dark is hidden from view; what is obscure is difficult to perceive or penetrate; the eye becomes dim with age; an impending storm fills the atmosphere with gloom. When taken figuratively, these words have a like use; as, the darkness of ignorance; dimness of discernment; obscurity of reasoning; gloom of superstition.

Darksome

Adjective

1. (Poetic): Dark; gloomy; obscure; shaded; cheerless

   Quotations

   • He brought him through a darksome narrow pass To a broad gate, all built of beaten gold. - Spenser

Darky

Noun

1. (Slang): A negro

Darling

Etymology

Old English derling, deorling, Anglo Saxon deórling; deóre dear + -ling. See dear, and -ling

Noun

1. One dearly beloved; a favorite.

   Quotations

   • And can do nought but wail her darling's loss. - Shakespeare, Henry VI Part II, III-i

Adjective

1. Dearly beloved; regarded with especial kindness and tenderness; favorite.

   Quotations

   • Some darling science." - I. Watts
   • Darling sin. - Macaulay

Darlingtonia

Etymology

New Latin Named after Dr. William Darlington, a botanist of West Chester, PA

Noun

1. (Botany): A genus of California pitcher plants consisting of a single species. The long tubular leaves are hooded at the top, and frequently contain many insects drowned in the secretion of the leaves.

Darn

Etymology 1

Old English derne, probably of Celtic origin; compare Welsh darnio to piece, break in pieces, Welsh and Armenian to English tear. Compare tear

Transitive verb

Imperfect and past participle: darned
Present participle: darning

1. To mend as a rent or hole, with interlacing stitches of yarn or thread by means of a needle; to sew together with yarn or thread.

   Quotations

   • He spent every day ten hours in his closet, in darning his stockins. - Swift

Derived expressions

• Darning last. See under last
• Darning needle.
  • A long, strong needle for mending holes or rents, especially in stockings
  • (Zoölogy): Any species of dragon fly, having a long, cylindrical body, resembling a needle. These flies are harmless and without stings. [In this sense, usually written with a hyphen.] Called also devil's darning-needle.

Noun

1. A place mended by darning.

Etymology 2

Euphemism

Transitive verb

1. A colloquial euphemism for damn

Darnel

Etymology

Old English darnel, dernel, of uncertain origin; compare dial French darnelle, Swedish dår-repe; perhaps named from a supposed intoxicating quality of the plant, and akin to Swedish dåra to infatuate, Old Dutch door foolish, German thor fool, and Ee.(?) dizzy

Noun

1. (Botany): Any grass of the genus Lolium, especially the Lolium temulentum (bearded darnel), the grains of which have been reputed poisonous. Other species, as Lolium perenne (rye grass or ray grass), and its variety Lolium italicum (Italian rye grass), are highly esteemed for pasture and for making hay. ===Note===

• Under darnel our early herbalists comprehended all kinds of cornfield weeds. - Dr. Prior

Darner

Noun

1. One who mends by darning.

Darnex

Noun

1. Variant of dornick

Darnic

Noun

1. Variant of dornick

Daroo

Noun

1. (Botany): The Egyptian sycamore Ficus sycamorus. See sycamore

Darr

Noun

1. (Zoölogy): The European black tern.

Darraign

Variants

Darrain

Etymology

Old French deraisnier to explain, defend, to maintain in legal action by proof and reasonings, Late Latin derationare; de- + rationare to discourse, contend in law, from Latin ratio reason, in Late Latin, legal cause. Compare arraign, and see reason

Transitive verb

1. (Obsolete): To make ready to fight; to array.

   Quotations

   • Darraign your battle, for they are at hand. - Shakespeare, Henry VI Part III, II-ii

2. (Obsolete): To fight out; to contest; to decide by combat

   Quotations

   • To darrain the battle. - Chaucer

Darrain

Transitive verb

1. Variant of Darraign

Darrein

Adjective

Etymology

Old French darrein, darrain, from an assumed Late Latin deretranus; Latin de + retro back, backward

1. (Law): Last; as, darrein continuance, the last continuance.

Dartars

Etymology

French dartre eruption, dandruff

Noun

1. A kind of scab or ulceration on the skin of lambs.

Darter

Noun

1. One who darts, or who throw darts; that which darts.
2. (Zoölogy): The snakebird, a water bird of the genus Plotus; -- so called because it darts out its long, snakelike neck at its prey. See snakebird.
3. (Zoölogy): A small fresh-water etheostomoid fish. The group includes numerous genera and species, all of them American

Dartingly

Adverb

1. Like a dart; rapidly.

Dartle

Etymology

Frequentative of dart

Transitive and Intransitive verb

1. To pierce or shoot through; to dart repeatedly

   Quotations

   • My star that dartles the red and the blue. - R. Browning

Dartoic

Adjective

1. (Anatomy): Of or pertaining to the dartos

Dartoid

Etymology

Dartos + -oid

Adjective

1. (Anatomy): Like the dartos; dartoic; as, dartoid tissue.

Dartos

Etymology

New Latin, from Greek flayed

Noun

1. (Anatomy): A thin layer of peculiar contractile tissue directly beneath the skin of the scrotum.

Dartrous

Etymology

French dartreux. See dartars

Adjective

1. (Medicine): Relating to, or partaking of the nature of, the disease called tetter; herpetic

Derived expression

• Dartrous diathesis, A morbid condition of the system predisposing to the development of certain skin diseases, such as eczema, psoriasis, and pityriasis. Also called rheumic diathesis, and hipretism - Piffard

Darwinian

Etymology

Eponymous from the name of Charles Darwin, an English scientist

Adjective

1. Pertaining to Darwin; as, the Darwinian theory, a theory of the manner and cause of the development of living things from certain original forms or elements as put forth in his 1859 in a work, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection." See Development theory, under development

Noun

1. An advocate of Darwinism

Darwinianism

Noun

1. Variant of Darwinism

Darwinism

Variant

Darwinianism

Noun

1. (Biology): The theory or doctrines put forth by Darwin. - Huxley

Dase

Transitive verb

1. (Obsolete): See daze - Chaucer

Dasewe

Etymology

Old English dasewen, daswen; compare Anglo Saxon dysegian to be foolish

Intransitive verb

1. (Obsolete): To become dim-sighted; to become dazed or dazzled. - Chauscer

Dash

Etymology

Of Scandinavian origin; compare Danish daske to beat, strike, Swedish and Icelandic daska, Danish and Swedish dask blow

Transitive verb

Imperfect and past participle: dashed
Present participle: dashing

1. To throw with violence or haste; to cause to strike violently or hastily; -- often used with against.

   Quotations

   • If you dash a stone against a stone in the botton of the water, it maketh a sound. - Bacon

2. To break, as by throwing or by collision; to shatter; to crust; to frustrate; to ruin.

   Quotations

   • Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. - Psalms 2:9
   • A brave vessel, . . . Dashed all to pieces. - Shakespeare, Tempest, I-ii
   • To perplex and dash Maturest counsels. - Milton.

3. To put to shame; to confound; to confuse; to abash; to depress. - South

   Quotations

   • Dash the proud gameser in his gilded car. - Pope

4. To throw in or on in a rapid, careless manner; to mix, reduce, or adulterate, by throwing in something of an inferior quality; to overspread partially; to bespatter; to touch here and there; as, to dash wine with water; to dash paint upon a picture.

   Quotations

   • I take care to dash the character with such particular circumstance as may prevent ill-natured applications. - Addison
   • The very source and fount of day Is dashed with wandering isles of night. - Tennyson

5. To form or sketch rapidly or carelessly; to execute rapidly, or with careless haste; -- with off; as, to dash off a review or sermon.
6. To erase by a stroke; to strike out; knock out; -- with out; as, to dash out a word.

Intransitive verb

1. To rust with violence; to move impetuously; to strike violently; as, the waves dash upon rocks.

   Quotations

   • [He] dashed through thick and thin. - Dryden
   • On each hand the gushing waters play, And down the rough cascade all dashing fall. - Thomson

Noun

1. Violent striking together of two bodies; collision; crash.
2. A sudden check; abashment; frustration; ruin; as, his hopes received a dash.
3. A slight admixture, infusion, or adulteration; a partial overspreading; as, wine with a dash of water; red with a dash of purple.

   Quotations

   • Innocence when it has in it a dash of folly. - Addison

4. A rapid movement, esp. one of short duration; a quick stroke or blow; a sudden onset or rush; as, a bold dash at the enemy; a dash of rain.

   Quotations

   • She takes upon her bravely at first dash. - Shakespeare, Henry VI Part I, I-ii

5. Energy in style or action; animation; spirit.
6. (Low): A vain show; a blustering parade; a flourish; as, to make or cut a great dash.
7. (Punctuation): A mark or line [--], in writing or printing, denoting a sudden break, stop, or transition in a sentence, or an abrupt change in its construction, a long or significant pause, or an unexpected or epigrammatic turn of sentiment. Dashes are also sometimes used instead of marks or parenthesis. - John Wilson
8. (Music): The sign of staccato, a small mark denoting that the note over which it is placed is to be performed in a short, distinct manner
9. (Music): The line drawn through a figure in the thorough bass, as a direction to raise the interval a semitone.
10. (Racing): A short, spirited effort or trial of speed upon a race course; -- used in horse racing, when a single trial constitutes the race.

Dashboard

Noun

1. A board placed on the fore part of a carriage, sleigh, or other vechicle, to intercept water, mud, or snow, thrown up by the heels of the horses; -- in England commonly called splashboard
2. The instrument panel of an automobile
3. (Nautical): The float of a paddle wheel
4. (Nautical): A screen at the bow af a steam launch to keep off the spray; -- called also sprayboard

Dasher

Noun

1. That which dashes or agitates; as, the dasher of a churn.
2. (U.S.): A dashboard or splashboard.
3. (Low): One who makes an ostentatious parade

Dashing

Adjective

1. Bold; spirited; showy.

   Quotations

   • The dashing and daring spirit is preferable to the listless. - T. Campbell

Dashingly

Adverb

1. (Colloquial): Conspicuously; showily

   Quotations

   • A dashingly dressed gentleman. - Hawthorne

Dashism

Noun

1. (Rare and Colloquial): The character of making ostentatious or blustering parade or show.

   Quotations

   • He must fight a duel before his claim to . . . dashism can be universally allowed. - V. Knox

Dashpot

Noun

1. (Machines): A pneumatic or hydraulic cushion for a falling weight, as in the valve gear of a steam engine, to prevent shock. It consists of a chamber, containing air or a liquid, in which a piston, attached to the weight, falls freely until it enters a space from which the air or liquid can escape but slowly, when its fall is gradually checked. A cataract of an engine is sometimes called a dashpot.

Dashy

Etymology

From dash

Adjective

1. (Colloquial): Calculated to arrest attention; ostentatiously fashionable; showy

Dastard

Etymology

Probably from Icelandic dæstr exhausted. breathless, past participle of dæsa to groan, lose one's breath; compare. dasask to become exhausted, and English daze

Noun

1. One who meanly shrinks from danger; an arrant coward; a poltroon.

   Quotations

   • You are all recreants and dastards, and delight to live in slavery to the nobility. - Shakespeare, Henry VI Part II, IV-viii

Adjective

1. Meanly shrinking from danger; cowardly; dastardly

   Quotations

   • Their dastard souls. - Addison

Transitive verb

1. (Rare): To dastardize. - Dryden

Dastardize

Transitive verb

Imperfect and past participle: dastardized
Present participle: dastardizing

1. To make cowardly; to intimidate; to dispirit; as, to dastardize my courage. - Dryden

Dastardliness

Noun

1. The quality of being dastardly; cowardice; base fear.

Dastardly

Adjective

1. Meanly timid; cowardly; base; as, a dastardly outrage.

Dastardness

Noun

1. Dastardliness.

Dastardy

Noun

1. Base timidity; cowardliness.

Daswe

Intransitive verb

1. (Obsolete): See dasewe - Chaucer

Dasymeter

Etymology

Greek rough, thick + -meter

Noun

1. (Physics): An instrument for testing the density of gases, consisting of a thin glass globe, which is weighed in the gas or gases, and then in an atmosphere of known density

Dasypaedal

Adjective

1. (Zoölogy): dasypaedic

Dasypaedes

Etymology

New Latin, from Greek hairy, shaggy + a child

Plural noun

1. (Zoölogy): Those birds whose young are covered with down when hatched.

Dasypaedic

Adjective

1. (Zoölogy): Pertaining to the Dasypaedes; ptilopaedic

Dasyure

Etymology

Greek thick, shaggy + tail: compare French dasyure

Noun

1. (Zoölogy): A carnivorous marsupial quadruped of Australia, belonging to the genus Dasyurus. There are several species.

Dasyurine

Adjective

1. (Zoölogy): Pertaining to, or like, the dasyures

Data

Etymology

Latin plural of datum

Plural noun

See datum.

Datable

Adjective

1. That may be dated; having a known or ascertainable date.

   Quotations

   • Datable almost to a year - The Century

Dataria

Etymology

Late Latin, from Latin datum given

Noun

1. (Roman Catholic Church): Formerly, a part of the Roman chancery; now, a separate office from which are sent graces or favors, cognizable in foro externo, such as appointments to benefices. The name is derived from the word datum, given or dated (with the indications of the time and place of granting the gift or favor).

Datary

Etymology

Late Latin datarius. See dataria

Noun

1. (Roman Catholic Church): An officer in the pope's court, having charge of the Dataria.
2. The office or employment of a datary.