Chapter Dowgate Ward to Dragon of D by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Downy Cove (A). A knowing fellow, up to every dodge. On the "lucus a non lucendo " principle, contraries are often substituted in slang and facetious phrases. (See Lucus A Non Lucendo .)

Dowsabell Daughter of Cassamen, a knight of Arden, who fell in love with a shepherd. The two make love with Arcadian simplicity, and vow eternal fidelity.

"With that she bent her snow-white knee,
Down by the shepherd kneeléd she,
And him she sweetly kist.
With that the shepherd whooped for joy
Quoth he, `There's never shepherd boy
That ever was so blist.' "
Drayton: Dowsabell (a ballad).

Dowse on the Chops (A). A ding or blow on the face. "A dowse on the blubber-chops of my friend the baronet" means a setting down, a snubbing.

Doxy A baby; a plaything; a paramour. In the West of England babies are called doxies.

Doyleys Now means a small cloth used to cover dessert plates; but originally it had a much wider meaning. Thus Dryden speaks of "doyley petticoats;" and Steele, in No. 102 of the Tatler, speaks of his "doiley suit." The Doyleys were linen-drapers, No. 346, east corner of Upper Wellington Street, Strand, from the time of Queen Anne to the year 1850.

Dozen (See Baker's Dozen .)

D. P or Dom. Proc. The House of Lords. (Latin, Domus Procerum.)

Drac A sort of fairy in human form, whose abode is the caverns of rivers. Sometimes these dracs will float like golden cups along a stream to entice women and children bathing, and when they attempt to catch the prize drag them under water. (South of France mythology.)
   Fare le drac, same as "Faire le diable." Irish, "Play the Puck;" English, "Play the deuce."

"Belomen qu'yeu fare le Drac
Se jamay trebi dins un sac
Cinc ô siés milante pistolos
Espessos como de redolos."
Goudelin: Castle en l'Ayre.

Drachenfels (Dragon-rocks). So called from the legendary dragon killed there by Siegfried, the hero of the Nibelungen-Lied.

"The castled crag of Drachenfels
Frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine,
Whose breast of waters broadly swells
Between the banks which bear the vine."
Byron: Childe Harold, iii. 55.

Draconian Code One very severe. Draco was an Athenian law-maker. As every violation of a law was made in this code a capital offence, Demades the orator said "that Draco's code was written in human blood."

Draft The Druids borrowed money on promises of repayment after death (Patricius). Purchas tells us of some priests of Pekin, who barter with the people in bills of exchange, to be paid in heaven a hundredfold.

Draft on Aldgate (A), or A draft on Aldgate pump. A worthless note of hand; a fraudulent draft or money order. The pun is between draft or draught of drink, and draft a money order on a bank.

Drag in, Neck and Crop or To drag in, head and shoulders. To introduce a subject or remark abruptly. (See A Propos De Bottes.)

Draggle-tail A slut; a woman who allows her petticoats to trail in the dirt. The word should be "daggle- tail" (q.v.), from the Scotch dag (dew on the grass), daggle (wet with the grassdew), like the Latin collutulo irroro.

Dragoman (plural, Dragomans). A ciceronë; a guide or interpreter to foreigners. (Arabic targuman, an interpreter; whence targum.)

"My dragoman had me completely in his power, and I resolved to become independent of all interpreters." - Baker: Albert Nyanza, chap. i. p. 3.

Dragon The Greek word drakon comes from a verb meaning "to see," to "look at," and more remotely "to watch" and "to flash."
   The animal called a dragon is a winged crocodile with a serpent's tail; whence the words serpent and dragon are sometimes interchangeable.
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