Chapter Deal-fish to December of D by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

depicted.
    It will be observed that four of the list died of laughter. No doubt the reader will be able to add other examples.

Death in the Pot During a dearth in Gilgal, there was made for the sons of the prophets a pottage of wild herbs, some of which were poisonous. When the sons of the prophets tasted the pottage, they cried out, "There is death in the pot." Then Elisha put into it some meal, and its poisonous qualities were counteracted. (2 Kings iv. 40.)

Death under Shield Death in battle.

"Her imagination had been familiarised with wild and bloody events ... and had been trained up to consider an honourable `death under shield' (as that in a field of battle was termed) a desirable termination to the life of a warrior." - Sir W. Scott:The Betrothed, chap. 6.

Death-bell A tinkling in the ears, supposed by the Scotch peasantry to announce the death of a friend.

"O lady, `tis dark, an' I heard the death-bell,
An' I darena gae yonder for gowd nor fee."
James Hogg: Mountain Bard.

Death-meal (A). A funeral banquet.

"Death-meals, as they were termed, were spread in honour of the deceased." - Sir W. Scott: The Betrothed, chap.7.

Death-watch Any species of Anobium, a genus of wood-boring beetles that make a clicking sound, once supposed to presage death.

Death's Head Bawds and procuresses used to wear a ring bearing the impression of a death's head in the time of Queen Elizabeth. Allusions not uncommon in plays of the period.

"Sell some of my cloaths to buy thee a death's-head, and put [it] upon thy middle finger. Your least considering bawds do so much." - Messenger: Old Laws, iv. 1.

Death's Head on a Mopstick A thin, sickly person, a mere anatomy, is so called. When practical jokes were more common it was by no means unusual to mount on a mopstick a turnip with holes for eyes, and a candle inside, to scare travellers at night time.

Deaths-man An executioner; a person who kills another brutally but lawfully.

"Great Hector's deaths-man."
Heywood: Iron Age.

Debateable Land A tract of land between the Esk and Sark, claimed by both England and Scotland, and for a long time the subject of dispute. This tract of land was the hotbed of thieves and vagabonds.

Debon One of the heroes who accompanied Brute to Britain. According to British fable, Devonshire is the county or share of Debon. (See Devonshire.)

Debonair' [Le Débonnaire ]. Louis I. of France, sometimes called in English The Meek, son and succassor of Charlemagne; a man of courteous manners, cheerful temper, but effeminate and deficient in moral energy. (778, 814-840.)

Debris The débris of an army. The remnants of a routed army. Débris means the fragments of a worn- down rock. It is a geological term (débriser, to break down).

Debt of Nature To pay the debt of Nature. To die. Life is a loan, not a gift, and the debt is paid off by death.

"The slender debt to Nature's quickly paid."
Quarles: Emblems.

Decameron A volume of tales related in ten days (Greek, deka, hemera), as the Decameron of Boccaccio, which contains one hundred tales related in ten days.

Decamp He decamped in the middle of the night. Left without paying his debts. A military term from the Latin de-campus (from the field); French, décamper, to march away.