Chapter Dag to Dalgetty of D by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Dag to Dalgetty

Dag (day). Son of Natt or night. (Scandinavian mythology.)

Dagger or Long Cross (†), used for reference to a note after the asterisk (*), is a Roman Catholic character, originally employed in church books, prayers of exorcism, at benedictions, and so on, to remind the priest where to make the sign of the cross. This sign is sometimes called an obelisk - that is, "a spit." (Greek, obelos, a spit.)    Dagger, in the City arms of London, commemorates Sir William Walworth's dagger, with which he slew Wat Tyler in 1381. Before this time the cognisance of the City was the sword of St. Paul.

"Brave Walworth, knight, lord mayor, that slew
Rebellious Tyler in his alarmes;
The king, therefore, did give him in lieu
The dagger to the city armes."
Fourth year of Richard II. (1381),
Fishmongers' Hall.

Dagger Ale is the ale of the Dagger, a celebrated ordinary in Holborn.

"My lawyer's clerk I lighted on last night
In Holborn, at the Dagger. '
Ben Jonson: The Alchemist, i. 1.

Dagger-scene in the House of Commons Edmund Burke, during the French Revolution, tried a bit of bunkum by throwing down a dagger on the floor of the House, exclaiming as he did so, "There's French fraternity for you! Such is the weapon which French Jacobins would plunge into the heart of our beloved king." Sheridan spoilt the dramatic effect, and set the House in a roar by his remark, "The gentleman, I see, has brought his knife with him, but where is his fork?" (See Coup De Theatre)

Daggers To speak daggers, To look daggers. To speak or look so as to wound the sensibilities.

"I will speak daggers to her; but will use none." - Shakespeare: Hamlet, iii. 2.

Daggers Drawn (At). At great enmity, as if with daggers drawn and ready to rush on each other.

Daggle-tail or Draggle-tail. A slovenly woman, the bottom of whose dress trails in the dirt. Dag (Saxon) means loose ends, mire or dirt; whence dag-locks, the soiled locks of a sheep's fleece, and dag-wool, refuse wool. (Compare TAG.)

Dagobert King Dagobert and St. Eloi. There is a French song very popular with this title. St. Eloi tells the king his coat has a hole in it, and the king replies, "C'est vrai, le tien est bon; prête-le moi." Next the saint complains of the king's stockings, and Dagobert makes the same answer. Then of his wig and cloak, to which the same answer is returned. After seventeen complaints St. Eloi said, "My king, death is at hand, and it is time to confess," when the king replied, "Why can't you confess, and die instead of me?"

Dagon (Hebrew, dag On, the fish On). The idol of the Philistines; half woman and half fish. (See Atergata.)

"Dagon his name; sea-monster, upward man
And downward fish; yet had his temple high
Rear'd in Azotus dreaded through the coast
Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon,
And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds."
Milton: Paradise Lost, book i. 402.

Dagonet (Sir). In the romance La Mort d' Arthure he is called the fool of King Arthur, and was knighted by the king himself.

"I remember at Mile-End Green, when I lay at Clement's Inn, I was then Sir Dagonet in Arthur's show." - Henry IV., iii. 2. (Justice Shallow).

    "Dagonet" is the pen-name of Mr. G. R. Sims.

Daguerreotype (4 syl.). A photographic process. So named from M. Daguerre, who greatly improved it in 1839. (See Talbotype.)

Dagun A god worshipped in Pegu. When Kiakiak destroyed the world, Dagun reconstructed it. (Indian mythology.)

Dahak The Satan of Persia. According to Persian mythology, the ages of the world are divided into periods of 1,000 years. When the cycle of "chiliasms" (1,000-year periods) is complete, the reign of Ormuzd will begin, and men will be all good and all happy; but this event will be preceded by the loosing of Dahak,