devil's snuif-box
A puff-ball; a fungus full of dust; one of the genus Lycoperdon.
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devilish
Very: an epithet which in the English vulgar language is made to agree with every quality or thing; as, devilish bad, devilish good; devilish sick, devilish well; devilish sweet, devilish sour; devilish hot, devilish cold, &c. &c.
devil’s books
A pack of playing-cards; a phrase of Presbyterian origin.—See FOUR KINGS.
devil’s dung
The fetid drug assafœtida.
devil’s livery
Black and yellow. From the mourning and quarantine uses of the colours.
devo
Devastated.
devoed
Devastated.
devotional habits
Horses weak in the knees, and apt to stumble and fall, are said to have these.—Stable.
Dew Ponds
On the heights of the chalk downs and in other places where there is no visible means of replenishment there are ponds which remain full in the heat of summer when ponds at lower levels dry up.
dew-beaters
Feet; "hold out your DEW-BEATERS till I take off the darbies."—Peveril of the Peak. Forby says the word is used in Norfolk for heavy shoes to resist wet.
dew-drink
A morning draught, such as is served out to labourers in harvest time before commencing work.
dewitted
Torn to pieces by a mob, as that great statesman John de Wit was in Holland, anno 1672.
dewskitch
A good thrashing, perhaps from catching one’s due.
dial back
reduce the intensity or severity of something
dial down
to reduce the intensity or severity of something
dial plate
The face. To alter his dial plate; to disfigure his face.
dial towards
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
diamond cut diamond
See DIAMOND. He has cut his eye teeth. See TEETH.
diamond hammer
A pick for "whetting'* millstones. It is provided with several sharp- pointed teeth to give a uniform roughness to the surface of the stone. Also a steel pick with diamond-shaped point at each extremity to recut grooves in stone.
Diamond Jim
Jim Brady, an American railway magnate who liked to cover his person with diamonds of great size in the form of rings, buttons, tie pins, etc.
Diana of Ephesus
This statue, a cone sur- mounted by a bust covered with breasts, we are told, fell from heaven. If so, it was an aerolite; but Minucius (2nd cent. A.D.), who says he saw it, describes it as a wooden statue, and Pliny, a contemporary, tells us it was made of ebony. Probably the real "image" was a meteorite, and in the course of time a wooden one was substituted.
Diana's Worshippers
Midnight revellers. So called because they return home by moon- light, and so, figuratively, put themselves under the protection of Diana (q.v.).
diapie
A diaper.
diarrhea of the mouth
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
dibbs
Money; so called from the huckle bones of sheep, which have been used from the earliest times for gambling purposes when money was not obtainable—in one particular game being thrown up five at a time and caught on the back of the hand like halfpence.
dibs
Money.
dice
The names of false dice: A bale of bard cinque deuces A bale of flat cinque deuces A bale of flat sice aces A bale of bard cater traes A bale of flat cater traes A bale of fulhams A bale of light graniers A bale of langrets contrary to the ventage A bale of gordes, with as many highmen as lowmen, for passage A bale of demies A bale of long dice for even and odd A bale of bristles A bale of direct contraries.
dice roll
a situation with unpredictable outcome
dick
The penis.
dick
That happened in the reign of queen Dick, i. e. never: said of any absurd old story. I am as queer as Dick's hatband; that is, out of spirits, or don't know what ails me.
dick
A riding whip; gold-headed DICK, one so ornamented.
Dick and Jane
a generic, archetypal average American couple
dick milk
a useless or worthless thing
dick munch
a stupid or annoying person
dick snot
semen
dickens
Synonymous with devil; "what the DICKENS are you after?" what the devil are you doing? Used by Shakspeare in the Merry Wives of Windsor. In many old stories his Satanic Majesty is called the DICKENS, and by no other name, while in some others the word is spelt "diconce."
Dickens's Oliver Twist
The only rudiment of a redeeming feature he posessed was a kind of affection for his dog.
dickey
An ass. Roll your dickey; drive your ass. Also a seat for servants to sit behind a carriage, when their master drives.
dickey
Bad, sorry, or foolish; food or lodging is pronounced DICKEY when of a poor description; "very DICKEY", very inferior; "it’s all DICKEY with him," i.e., all over with him.
dicky
A woman's under-petticoat. It's all Dicky with him; i.e. it's all over with him.
Dicky Sam
A native-born inhabitant of Liverpool, as Tim Bobbin is a native of Lancashire.
dictated but not read
officially stated but not actually considered
dictionary
Of all the Cant and Flash Languages, both Ancient and Modern, 18mo. Bailey, 1790.
dictionnaire
Des Halle, 12mo. Bruxelles, 1696.
Didactic Poetry
Poetry which uses the beauties of expression, imagination, sentiment, etc., for teaching some moral lesson, as Pope's Essay on Man, or the principle of some art or science, as Virgil's Georgics,, Garth's Dis- pensary, or Darwin's Botanic Garden. (Gr. didasko, I teach.
diddeys
A woman's breasts or bubbies.
diddle
The penis.
diddle
Old cant word for geneva, or gin.
diddler
Or JEREMY DIDDLER, an artful swindler. A diddler is generally one who borrows money without any intention of ever repaying it; the sort of man who, having asked for half-a-crown and received only a shilling, would consider that eighteenpence was owing to him.—From Raising the Wind.
diddling
Cheating or swindling. Borrowing money without any intention of repaying it. Edgar Allan Poe wrote a very amusing article once on DIDDLING, which he seemed to regard as a rather high art.
diddly
penis
didoes
Pranks or capers; "to cut up DIDOES," to make pranks.
die a thousand deaths
to experience intense anxiety or embarrassment
die down
To decrease in intensity or activity
die in harness
Die while still working or active
die on one's arse
To fail utterly or completely
die on the vine
To fail or be abandoned before coming to fruition
die out
To become extinct or disappear gradually
die the way one lived
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Dietrich of Bern
The name given by the German minnesingers to Theodonc the Great (454-526), king of the Ostrogoths (Bern = Verona). He appears in many Middle High German poems, especially the Nibel- ungenhed, where he is one of the liegemen of King Etzel.
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