Chapter DORADO to DRAVIDIAN of D by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

DORADO to DRAVIDIAN

DORADO, s. Port. A kind of fish; apparently a dolphin (not the cetaceous animal so called). The Coryphaenà hippurus of Day’s Fishes is called by Cuvier and Valenciennes C. dorado. See also quotation from Drake. One might doubt, because of the praise of its flavour in Bontius, whilst Day only says of the C. hippurus that “these dolphins are eaten by natives.” Fryer, however, uses an expression like that of Bontius:—“The Dolphin is extolled beyond these,”—i.e. Bonito and Albicore (p. 12).

1578.—“When he is chased of the Bonito, or great mackrel (whom the Aurata or Dolphin also pursueth).”—Drake, World Encompassed, Hak. Soc. 32.

1631.—“Pisces Dorados dicti a Portugalensibus, ab aureo quem ferunt in cute colore…hic piscis est longe optimi saporis, Bonitas bonitate excellens.”—Jac. Bontii, Lib. V. cap. xix. 73.

DORAY, DURAI, s. This is a South Indian equivalent of Sahib (q.v.); Tel. dora, Tam. turai, ‘Master.’ Sinnaturai, ‘small gentleman’ is the equivalent of Chhota Sahib, a junior officer; and Tel. dorasani, Tam. turaisani (corruptly doresáni) of ‘Lady’ or ‘Madam.’

1680.—“The delivery of three Iron guns to the Deura of Ramacole at the rate of 15 Pagodas per candy is ordered…which is much more than what they cost.”—Fort St. Geo. Cons., Aug. 5. In Notes and Extracts, No. iii. p. 31.

1837.—“The Vakeels stand behind their masters during all the visit, and discuss with them all that A—says. Sometimes they tell him some barefaced lie, and when they find he does not believe it, they turn to me grinning, and say, ‘Ma’am, the Doory plenty cunning gentlyman.’ ”—Letters from Madras, 86.

1882.—“The appellation by which Sir T. Munro was most commonly known in the Ceded Districts was that of ‘Colonel Dora.’ And to this day it is considered a sufficient answer to inquiries regarding the reason for any Revenue Rule, that i was laid down by the Colonel Dora.”—Arbuthnot’s Memoir of Sir T. M., p. xcviii.

“A village up the Godavery, on the left, bank, is inhabited by a race of people known as Doraylu, or ‘gentlemen.’ That this is the understood meaning is shown by the fact that their women are called Doresandlu, i.e. ‘ladies.’ These people rifle their arrow feathers, i.e. give them a spiral.” (Reference lost.) [These are perhaps the Kois, who are called by the Telingas Koidhoras, “the word dhora meaning ‘gentleman’ or Sahib.”—(Central Proc. Gaz. 500; also see Ind. Ant. viii. 34)].

DORIA, s. H. doriya, from dor, dori, ‘a cord or leash’; a dog-keeper.

1781.—“Stolen…The Dog was taken out of Capt. Law’s Baggage Boat…by the Durreer that brought him to Calcutta.”—India Gazette, March 17.


[Doriya is also used for a kind of cloth. “As the characteristic pattern of the charkhana is a check, so that of the doriya is stripes running along the length of the than, i.e. in warp threads. The doriya was originally a cotton fabric, but it is now manufactured in silk, silk-and-cotton, tasar, and other combinations” (Yusuf Ali, Mon. on Silk, 94). [c. 1590.—In a list of cotton cloths, we have “Doriyah, per piece, 6R. to 2M.”—Ain, i. 95.

[1683.—“…3 pieces Dooreas.”—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 94.]

DOSOOTY, s. H. do-súti, do-súta, ‘double thread,’ a kind of cheap cotton stuff woven with threads doubled.

[1843.—“The other pair (of travelling baskets) is simply covered with dosootee (a coarse double-threaded cotton).”—Davidson, Diary in Upper India, i. 10.]

DOUBLE-GRILL, s. Domestic H. of the kitchen for ‘a devil’ in the culinary sense.

DOUR, s. A foray, or a hasty expedition of any kind. H. daur, ‘a run.’ Also to dour, ‘to run,’ or ‘to make such an expedition.’

1853.—“ ‘Halloa! Oakfield,’ cried Perkins, as he entered the mess tent…‘don’t look down in the mouth, man; Attok taken, Chutter Sing dauring down like the devil—march to-morrow….’ ”—Oakfield, ii. 67.

DOW, s. H. dao, [Skt. datra, da, ‘to cut’]. A name much used on the Eastern frontier of Bengal as well as by Europeans in Burma, for the hewing knife or bill, of various forms, carried by the races of those regions, and used both for cutting jungle and as a sword. Dha is the true Burmese name for