cute as a bug in a rug
Very cute.
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cute as a button
Very cute.
cute as a pin
Very cute.
cutex
nail polish
Cutler's Poetry
Mere jingles or rhymes. Knives had, at one time, a distich inscribed on the blade by means of aqua fortis.
cutter
A ruffian, a cut-purse. Of Robin Hood it was said—
cutter's law
Not to see a fellow want while we have cash in our purse. Cutter's law means the law of purse-cutters, robbers, brigands, and highwaymen.
cuttie
A cutback.
cutting edge
The most advanced or innovative stage of something
cutting-shop
A place where cheap rough goods are sold.
cutty stool
A small stool on which offenders were placed in the Scottish church when they were about to receive a public rebuke. Cp. STOOL OF REPENTANCE.
cutty-pipe
A short clay pipe. Scotch, CUTTY, short.
cutty-sark
A short chemise.—Scotch. A scantily-draped lady is so called by Burns.
cuzzo
A cousin.
cycle of the sun
A period of twenty-eight years, at the expiration of which time the Sunday letters recur and proceed in the same order as they did twenty-eight years previously. In other words, the days of the month fall again on the same days of the week.
Cyclic Poets
Epic poets who, on the death of Homer, caught the contagion of his poems, and wrote continuations, illustra- tions, or additions thereto. These poets wrote between 800 and 550 B.C., and were called cyclic because they confined themselves to the cycle of the Trojan war. The chief were Agias, Arctmos, Eugamon, Lesches, and Strasinos.
Cynic: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. (Ambrose Bierce)
A cynic is someone who sees the worst in things
d.t
A popular abbreviation of delirium tremens; sometimes written and pronounced del. trem. D.T. also often represents the Daily Telegraph.
Da Capo
(Ital.) A musical term meaning, from the beginning — that is, finish with a repetition of the first strain.
dab
An adept; a dab at any feat or exercise. Dab, quoth Dawkins, when he hit his wife on the a-se with a pound of butter.
dab
Or DABSTER, an expert person. Most probably derived from the Latin adeptus.
dabheno
A bad one, sometimes a bad market. See DOOGHENO.
dace
Two pence. Tip me a dace; lend me two pence. CANT.
dacha-saltee
Tenpence. Probably from the Lingua Franca. Modern Greek, δέκα; Italian, DIECI SOLDI, tenpence; Gipsy, DIK, ten. So also DACHA-ONE (oney), i.e., dieci uno, elevenpence.—See SALTEE.
Dad and Dave
Two figures rapidly be- coming traditional in Australian humour.
daddle
The hand; "tip us your DADDLE," i.e., shake hands.
daddles
Hands. Tip us your daddle; give me your hand. CANT.
daddy
Father. Old daddy; a familiar address to an old man. To beat daddy mammy; the first rudiments of drum beating, being the elements of the roll.
daddy
A stage manager.—Theatrical. Also the person who gives away the bride at a wedding.
Daddy Long-legs
A crane-fly, applied also to the long-legged spiders called "harvest- men.
daffy
Gin.
daffy
Gin. A term with monthly nurses, who are always extolling the virtues of Daffy’s Elixir, and who occasionally comfort themselves with a stronger medicine under Daffy’s name. Of late years the term has been altered to "soothing syrup."
dag out
To be lazy.
dagger ale
The ale of the Dagger, a low- class gambling-house m Holborn, famous in Elizabethan times for its strong drink, furmety, and meat-pies. There was another tavern of the same name in Cheapside. The exact site of neither is known.
daggers
They are at daggers drawing; i.e. at enmity, ready to fight.
dags
Feat or performance; "I’ll do your DAGS," i.e., I will do something that you cannot do. Corruption of DARINGS.
Dail Eireann
The Irish republican army was organized and carried on a violent guerrilla warfare against the military and the police. In December, 1921, negotiations were opened between the Sinn Fein leaders and the British government, and the Treaty of independence of Eire was signed.
daily grind
Routine daily work or activities
dairies
A woman’s breasts, which are also called CHARLIES.
dairy
A woman's breasts, particularly one that gives suck. She sported her dairy; she pulled out her breast.
daisy kickers
Ostlers at great inns.
daisy-cutter
A horse that trots or gallops without lifting its feet much from the ground.
daisy-kicker
The name ostlers at large inns used to give each other, now nearly obsolete. DAISY-KICKER, or GROGHAM, was likewise the cant term for a horse. The DAISY-KICKERS were sad rogues in the old posting days; frequently the landlords rented the stables to them, as the only plan to make them return a profit.
dam
Damn.
dam
A small Indian coin, mentioned in the Gentoo code of laws: hence etymologists may, if they please, derive the common expression, I do not care a dam, i.e. I do not care half a farthing for it.
damage
In the sense of recompense; "what’s the DAMAGE?" i.e., what is to pay? or actually, what is the DAMAGE to my pocket?
damber
A rascal. See DIMBER.
damme boy
A roaring, mad, blustering fellow, a scourer of the streets, or kicker up of a breeze.
damn and blast
Last.
damn by association
To be discredited due to one's connection to someone or something unpopular
damn right
used to emphasize strong agreement
damn straight
emphatically yes or absolutely true
damn the torpedoes
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
damn with faint praise
To criticize indirectly by giving insincere or lukewarm praise
damned if one does and damned if one doesn't
Faced with two options, both of which have negative consequences
damned soul
A clerk in a counting house, whose sole business it is to clear or swear off merchandise at the custom-house; and who, it is said, guards against the crime of perjury, by taking a previous oath, never to swear truly on those occasions.
Damocles's Sword
Impending evil or danger. Damocles, a sycophant of Dionysms the Elder, of Syracuse, was invited by the tyrant to try the felicity he so much envied. Accepting, he was set down to a sumptuous banquet, but overhead was a sword suspended by a hair. Damocles was afraid to stir, and the banquet was a tantalizing torment to him.
Damon and Pythias
Close and loyal friends
Damon and Pythias
A type of inseparable friends. They were Syracusans of the first half of the 4th century B c. : Pythias being condemned to death by Dionysius the tyrant, obtained leave to go home to arrange his affairs after Damon had agreed to take his place and be executed should Pythias not return. Pythias being delayed, Damon was led to execution, but his friend arrived just in time to save him.
damp squib
Something that is expected to be exciting but turns out to be disappointing
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