Chapter Do for to Doctour of Phisikes Tale of D by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Do for to Doctour of Phisikes Tale

Do for I'll do for him. Ruin him; literally, provide for him in a bad sense. "Taken in and done for," is taken in and provided for; but, jocosely, it means "cheated and fleeced."

Do up (To). To set in order; to make tidy. "Dup the door." (See Dup.)

Doab (Indian). A tract of land between two rivers. (Pronounce du'-ab.)

Dobbin A steady old horse, a child's horse. Dobby, a silly old man. Dobbies, house-elves similar to brownies. All these are one and the same word. The dobbies lived in the house, were very thin and shaggy, very kind to servants and children, and did many a little service when people had their hands full.

"Sober Dobbin lifts his clumsy heel."
Bloomfield: Farmer's Boy. (Winter, stanza 9.)

   Dobbins (Humphrey). The valet-de-chambre and factotum of Sir Robert Bramble, of Blackbury Hall, in the county of Kent. A blunt, rough-spoken old retainer, full of the milk of human kindness, and most devoted to his master. (G. Colman: The Poor Gentleman.)

Dobby's Walk The goblin's haunt or beat. Dobby is an archaic word for a goblin or brownie. (See Washington Irving's Bracebridge Hall, ii. 183-6.) Dobby also means an imbecile old man.

"The Dobby's walk was within the inhabited domains of the Hall." - Sir W Scott: Peveril of the Peak, chap.x.

Docetes (3 syl.). An early heretical sect, which maintained that Jesus Christ was only God, and that His visible form was merely a phantom; that the crucifixion and resurrection were illusions. (The word is Greek, and means phantomists.)

Dock-Alfar The dark Alfs whose abode is underground. They are in appearance blacker than pitch. (Scandinavian mythology.)

Dock-side Lumper (A). One engaged in delivering and loading ships' cargoes.

"Judging of my histrionic powers by my outward man, he probably thought me more flt for a dock-side lumper than an actor." - C. Thomson: Autobiography, p. 191.

Dock Warrant (A). An order authorising the removal of goods warehoused in the dock.

Doctor A seventh son used to be so dubbed from the notion of his being intuitively skilled in the cure of agues, the king's evil, and other diseases.

"Plusieurs croyent qu'en France les septiennes garçons, nez de legitimes mariages (sans que la suitte des sept ait, esté interrompue par la naissance d'aucune fille) peuvent aussi guerir des fievres tierces, des fievres quartes, et mesme des ecrouelles,après avoir jeûne trois ou neuf jours avant que de toucher les malades." - Jean Baptiste. Thiers: Traité des Superstitions, etc., i. p. 436.

Doctor (The). The cook on board ship, who "doctors" the food. Any adulterated or doctored beverage; hence the mixture of milk, water, nutmeg, and a little rum, is called Doctor; the two former ingredients being "doctored" by the two latter.

Doctor (The). Brown sherry, so called because it is concocted from a harsh, thin wine, by the addition of old boiled mosto stock. Mosto is made by heating unfermented juice in earthen vessels, till it becomes as thick and sweet as treacle. This syrup being added to fresh "must" ferments, and the luscious produce is used for doctoring very inferior qualities of wine. (Shaw: On Wine.)
   To doctor the wine. To drug it, or strengthen it with brandy. The fermentation of cheap wines is increased by fermentable sugar. As such wines fail in aroma, connoisseurs smell at their wine. To doctor wine is to make weak wine stronger, and "sick" wine more palatable.