Chapter Demodocos to Derwentwater of D by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Derbend [iron ]. A town on the Caspian, commanding the coast road. D'Herbelot says: "Les Turcs appellent cette ville `Demir Capi' (porte de fer); ce sont les Caspiæ Portæ des anciens."

"Beyond the Caspian's iron gates."
Moore: Fire Worshippers.

Derby Stakes Started by Edward Smith Stanley, the twelfth Earl of Derby, in 1780, the year after his establishment of the Oaks stakes (q.v.).
   The Derby Day is the day when the Derby stakes are run for; it is the second Wednesday of the great Epsom Spring Meeting, in May.
   The Derby Day.
    The Derby, the Oaks, and the St. Leger are called "The Classic Races." The Oaks is the classic race for fillies only, three years' old (£1,000); the Derby (Darby) for colts and fillies three years' old; the St. Leger for colts and fillies, those which have run in the Oaks or Derby being eligible.

Derive (2 syl.) means "back to its channel or source" (Latin, de rivo). The Latin rivus (a river) does not mean the stream or current, but the source whence it flows, or the channel through which it runs. As Ulpian says, "Fons sive locus per longitudinem depressus, quo aqua decurrat."

Dernier Ressort (French). A last resource.

Derrick A hangman; a temporary crane to remove goods from the hold of a vessel. So called from Derrick, the Tyburn hangman early in the seventeenth century, who for more than a hundred years gave his name to gibbets. (See Hangman.)

"He rides circuit with the devil, and Derrick must be his host, and Tyborne the inn at which he will light." - Bellman of London, 1616.

Derwentwater Lord Derwentwater's lights. The Aurora borealis; so called from James, Earl of Derwentwater, beheaded for rebellion February 24th, 1716. It is said that the northern lights were unusually brilliant on that night.