Chapter Dull as a Fro to Dunciad of D by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Dull as a Fro to Dunciad

Dull as a Fro A frow or fro is a kind of wedge for splitting wood. It is not a sharp-edged instrument like a chisel, but a blunt or dull one.

Dull as Ditch-water Uninteresting; ditch-water is stagnant and has no go in it.

Dulness King of dulness. Colley Cibber, poet laureate after Eusden.

" `God save king Cibber!' mounts in every note . . .
So when Jove's block descended from on high . . .
Loud thunder to the bottom shook the bog,
And the hoarse nation croaked, `God save king Log!'"
Pope: Dunciad, book i.

Dum Sola (Latin). While single or unmarried.

Dum Spiro, Spero While I live, I hope; or, While there's life, there's hope.
   Hope while you live, for who would care to cope
   With life's three foes, unpanoplied with hope?
   Hope against hope, while fed with vital breath.
   Hope be your anchor in the hour of death.
   E.C.B.

Dum Vivimus, Vivamus (Latin). While we live, let us enjoy life. The motto of Dr. Doddridge's coat of arms, which he converted into the subjoined epigram -

" `Live, while you live,' the epicure would say,
`And seize the pleasures of the present day.'
`Live, while you live,' the sacred preacher cries,
`And give to God each moment as it flies.'
Lord, in my views let each united be;
I live in pleasure, when I live to thee."

Dumachus The impenitent thief, called Dysmus in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. In Longfellow's Golden Legend Dumachus and Titus were two of a band of robbers who attacked Joseph in his flight into Egypt. Titus said, "Let these good people go in peace," but Dumachus replied, "First let them pay for their release." Upon this Titus gave his fellow-robber forty groats, and the infant Jesus said -

"When thirty years shall have gone by,
I at Jerusalem shall die . . .
On the accursëd tree.
Then on my right and my left side,
These thieves shall both be crucified;
And Titus thenceforth shall abide
In Paradise with me."
The Miracle Play, iii.

Dumb-barge (A). A barge without sails, used for a pier, and not for conveying merchandise up and down a river.

Dumb-bell Nebula (The). A still condensing mass; so called from being of the shape of a dumb-bell.

Dumb-bells A corruption of Dumpels or Dumples, the same word as Dumplings, and meaning heavy (weights). (German and Danish, dumm heavy, dull, insipid; dumpling, a heavy, insipid pudding; dumps, heavy, stupid moroseness.) (See Dump.)

Dumb-bells In New College, Oxford, there still is an apparatus for developing the muscles similar to that which sets church-bells in motion. It consists of a fly-wheel with a weight attached, and the gymnast is carried by it up and down to bring his muscles into play. The present apparatus was substituted for it, and answers a similar purpose, though the name is greatly obscured.

Dumb-bidding A sale by auction effected thus: The owner fixes an upset-price on an article, writes it on a slip of paper, and covers the slip up. The article is then offered to the bidders, and withdrawn unless some bid reaches the upset price.

Dumb-cow (To). To brow-beat; to cow. (Anglo-Indian.)

Dumb Crambo (See Crambo .)

Dumb Dog (A). One who remains silent when he ought to speak.

Dumb Ox of Cologne (The). Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274), known afterwards as "the Angelic Doctor" or "Angel of the Schools." Albertus Magnus, the tutor of the "dumb ox," said of him: "The dumb ox will one day fill the world with his lowing." He was born at Naples, but was a student in the monastery of Cologne.