8. (Mus.) (a) The sign of staccato, a small mark [] denoting that the note over which it is placed is to
be performed in a short, distinct manner. (b) The line drawn through a figure in the thorough bass, as
a direction to raise the interval a semitone.
9. (Racing) A short, spirited effort or trial of speed upon a race course; — used in horse racing, when a
single trial constitutes the race.
Dashboard
(Dash"board`) n.
1. A board placed on the fore part of a carriage, sleigh, or other vehicle, to intercept water, mud, or
snow, thrown up by the heels of the horses; — in England commonly called splashboard.
2. (Naut.) (a) The float of a paddle wheel. (b) A screen at the bow af a steam launch to keep off the
spray; — called also sprayboard.
Dasher
(Dash"er) n.
1. That which dashes or agitates; as, the dasher of a churn.
2. A dashboard or splashboard. [U. S.]
3. One who makes an ostentatious parade. [Low]
Dashing
(Dash"ing), a. Bold; spirited; showy.
The dashing and daring spirit is preferable to the listless.
T. Campbell. Dashingly
(Dash"ing*ly), adv. Conspicuously; showily. [Colloq.]
A dashingly dressed gentleman.
Hawthorne. Dashism
(Dash"ism) n. The character of making ostentatious or blustering parade or show. [R. & Colloq.]
He must fight a duel before his claim to . . . dashism can be universally allowed.
V. Knox. Dashpot
(Dash"pot`) n. (Mach.) A pneumatic or hydraulic cushion for a falling weight, as in the valve
gear of a steam engine, to prevent shock.
It consists of a chamber, containing air or a liquid, in which a piston attached to the weight, falls freely
until it enters a space (as below the openings, b) from which the air or liquid can escape but slowly
when its fall is gradually checked.
A cataract of an engine is sometimes called a dashpot.
Dashy
(Dash"y) a. [From Dash.] Calculated to arrest attention; ostentatiously fashionable; showy. [Colloq.]
Dastard
(Das"tard) n. [Prob. from Icel. dæstr exhausted. breathless, p. p. of dæsa to groan, lose one's
breath; cf. dasask to become exhausted, and E. daze.] One who meanly shrinks from danger; an
arrant coward; a poltroon.
You are all recreants and dashtards, and delight to live in slavery to the nobility.
Shak. Dastard
(Das"tard), a. Meanly shrinking from danger; cowardly; dastardly. "Their dastard souls." Addison.
Dastard
(Das"tard), v. t. To dastardize. [R.] Dryden.
