Chapter D to Daffodil of D by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

D to Daffodil

D This letter is the outline of a rude archway or door. It is called in Hebrew daleth (a door). In Egyptian hieroglyphics it is a man's hand.

D or d, Indicating a penny or pence, is the initial letter of the Latin denarius a silver coin equal to 8 ¾d. during the commonwealth of Rome, but in the Middle Ages about equivalent to our penny. The word was used by the Romans for money in general.

D stands for 500, which is half ¥, a form of m or M, which stands for mille.

D stands for 5,000.

D.O.M. Deo Optimo Maximo. Datur omnibus mori (It is allotted to all to die).

D.T. A contraction of delirium tremens.

"They get a look, after a touch of D.T., which nothing else that I know of can give them" - Indian Tale.

Da Capo or D.C. From the beginning - that is, finish with a repetition of the first strain. A term in music. (Italian.)

Dab Clever, skilled, as "a dab-hand at it"; a corrupt contraction of the Latin adeptus (an adept). "Dabster" is another form. Apt is a related word.

"An Eton stripling, training for the law.
A dunce at learning, but a dab at taw (marbles)."
Anon: Logic; or, The Biter Bit "

Dab, Din etc.

"Hab Dab and David Din
Ding the deil o'er Dabson's Linn."

   "Hab Dab" means Halbert Dobson;"David Din" means David Dun; and"Dabson's Linn," or Dob's Linn, is a waterfall near the head of Moffat Water.
   Dobson and Dun were two Cameronians who lived for security in a cave in the ravine. Here, as they said, they saw the devil in the form of a pack of dried hides, and after fighting the "foul fiend" for some time, they dinged him into the waterfall.

Dabaira An idol of the savages of Panama', to whose honour slaves are burnt to death. (American mythology.)

Dabbat [the Beast]. The Beast of the Apocalypse, which the Mahometans say will appear with Antichrist, called by them daggial. (Rev. xix. 19; xx. 10.)

Dabble To dabble in the funds; to dabble in politics - i.e. to do something in them in a small way. (Dutch, dabbelen, our dip and tap.)

Dabchick The lesser grebe. Dab is a corruption of dap, the old participle of dip, and chick (any young or small fowl), literally the dipping or diving chick.

Dactyl (Will). The "smallest of pedants." (Steele: The Tatler.)

Dactyls (The). Mythic beings to whom is ascribed the discovery of iron. Their number was originally three - the Smelter, the Hammer, and the Anvil; but was afterwards increased to five males and five females, whence their name Dactyls or Fingers.

Dad or Daddy. Father. The person who acts as father at a wedding, a stage-manager. The superintendent of a casual ward is termed by the inmates "Old Daddy." (A Night in a Work-house, by an Amateur Casual [J. Greenwood].)
   In the Fortunes of Nigel, by Sir W. Scott, Steenie, Duke of Buckingham, calls King James "My dear dad and gossip." (Welsh, tad; Irish, daid, father; Sanskrit, tada; Hindu, dada.)

Daddy Long-legs A crane-fly; sometimes applied to the long-legged spiders called "harvestmen."