Glossary of Colloquialisms
(Starting with "D")
By
Natalya Belinsky,
"Fluent English Educational Project"
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D-Day
- D
- Day
- Z-day
- zero-day
- Z
- zero
Time of military action, a date set for a military
operation.
Example:
Meantime, the build-up to D-Day went on, and the
strain of waiting began to tell. (J. Beech, "One
WAAF's war")
Synonyms:
Z-day; zero-day
History:
Some British writers suggest that it's short for
"Debarkation" or other terms, but the
truth is that it is short for "Day".
The term is recorded from the end of the First World
War in 1918. It's a military code-name for a particular
day fixed for the start of an operation. In itself,
"D" doesn't mean anything.
Daft
1. silly, foolish;
2. mad
Daft-days
- Daft-day
- Daftdays
- Daftday
- Daft
- days
- day
The days of mirth and amusement at Christmas.
Etymology:
It's a Scots term. In the Middle Ages it was a period
of misrule and revelry, of mock masses and masquerades,
of celebration and not a little gluttony, that lasted
the whole twelve days of Christmas, through the
New Year (or Hogmanay) to Twelfth Night or Uphaliday.
The celebration has since become more sedate, Hogmanay
surviving as the main winter festival (at one time,
Christmas Day was hardly observed in Scotland).
For much of the twentieth century the phrase seemed
to be dying out, but it's now enjoying a revival.
If ever there was a description of people taking
their pleasures sadly, that was it. The Scots writer
J. M. Barrie (of The Admirable Crichton and Peter
Pan fame) described it in his book Auld Licht Idylls
of 1888 as "the black week of glum debauch
that ushered in the year". If ever there was
a description of people taking their pleasures sadly,
that was it.
"Daft" in modern English
means silly, foolish or mad, but here it has an
older sense - which survives in Scots - of somebody
who is thoughtless or giddy in their mirth, so "daft-days"
is an exact translation of the French "fûtes
de fou".
Darby and Joan
1. A happily married couple who lead a placid,
uneventful life; a loving, old-fashioned and virtuous
married couple, who live a placid and uneventful
life, often in humble circumstances.
Example:
My father called my mother darling once or twice
and there was a kind of Darby and Joan air about
them. (Ruth Rendell, "The best man to die".
London: Arrow Books Ltd, 1981)
2. The name of English clubs for senior citizens.
Example:
There are many Darby and Joan Clubs, so named, in
various parts of the country, social clubs for pensioners,
which hold dances and other events.
3. An image of companionship in old age.
Example:
"Their very silence might have been the mark
of something grave - their silence eked out for
her by his giving her his arm and their then crawling
up their steps quite mildly and unitedly together,
like some old Darby and Joan who have had a disappointment."
(Henry James, "The Golden Bowl")
History: Many modern references are linked
to a once-popular song of 1890, words by Frederic
Weatherly and music by James Molloy,
whose title was "Darby and Joan",
a song supposedly sung by Joan:
Darby dear we are old and grey,
Fifty years since our wedding day.
Shadow and sun for every one, as the years roll
by.
(Incidentally, it was once quite usual for wives
to refer to their husbands by their surnames, even
in private.) The phrase turns up in the middle of
the nineteenth century in works by Thackeray,
Melville and Trollope. A "comic
divertisement" entitled "Darby and
Joan, or The Dwarf" was performed at the
Royalty Theatre, London, according to an advertisement
in the "Times" on 1 February 1802; there
was a new dance of the same title, which was "received
with loud and general plaudits", according
to the issue of the same newspaper dated 26 May
the previous year; in June 1801 the newspaper reports
that a ballet of that title was being performed.
So by 1800, the phrase was already widespread. But
Samuel Johnson mentions a ballad about Darby
and Joan in the "Literary Magazine"
in 1756. This is almost certainly the one that appeared
in the issue of the "Gentleman's Magazine"
for March 1735. It was written by Henry Woodfall
and had the title "The Joys of Love never
forgot. A Song"; one verse reads
"Old Darby, with Joan by his side,
You've often regarded with wonder:
He's dropsical, she is sore-eyed,
Yet they're never happy asunder."
The Oxford English Dictionary comments, "This
has usually been considered the source of the names,
and various conjectures have been made, both as
to the author, and as to the identity of 'Darby
and Joan', but with no valid results." However,
the Dictionary of National Biography disagrees
and is quite specific about the origin. The characters
in the ballad are said to be based on John Darby,
a printer who lived in Bartholomew Close in the
City of London and his wife Joan.
(Henry Woodfall, the author of the ballad,
served his apprenticeship under John Darby.
Later, Woodfall was a well-known person in
London - he became the printer of the Public Advertiser
in Paternoster Row and he was appointed as master
of the Stationers' Company in 1766). John Darby
had died in 1730 and the DNB says Woodfall
wrote the ballad to commemorate his late employer
and his spouse.
4. (rhyming slang)
A loan.
Daylight Saving Time
The time set usually one hour later in summer so
that there is a longer period of daylight in the
evening. This time is observed in Russia, Europe
and Northern America.
Denglish
- Denglisch
- Germish
- Chinglish
- Singlish
- Hinglish
Also: Denglisch A variety
of German featuring a large number of borrowings
from English.
Examples:
1) After several misguided years of
using bad English to woo customers, German advertisers
have apparently rediscovered their own language.
It may not help ailing retailers much, but limiting
silly Denglish is long overdue. ("Deutsche
Welle", 15th November 2004)
2) & while many English words introduced
into German have the same meaning as they do in
English, many do not & For me, there are three Denglish
words that come to mind as the greatest offenders
and they are das Handy, das Mobbing,
and der Smoking. (Expatica.com <http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?
subchannel_id=183&story_id=19224&name=The+Curse+of+Denglish>,
July 2006)
History, related words:
In town and cities across Germany, it's not unusual
to hear Germans slipping English words and expressions
into their everyday language. Germans might talk
about going shoppen (shopping) or attending
a meeting at the office, they
might downloaden (download) software,
go online to chatten (chat), or
complain that their PC has gecrasht (crashed).
And as they walk along the city streets, they might
pass department stores advertising a sale,
enter music stores with coolen Sounds,
or purchase products such as Double Action
Waschgel. This is the phenomenon of Denglish,
a persistent infiltration of English words and expressions
into the German language. Denglish is
of course a direct consequence of the influence
of English as a global language, nowadays not just
through conventional media such as TV, radio and
the press, but also through the Internet as an integral
part of everyday life, where Germans are just as
likely to see words such as "homepage"
rather than "Startseite", or
"download" rather than "herunterladen".
As well as borrowing English words directly,
sometimes Denglish adopts English
expressions and gives them a new meaning, so that
for instance the Denglish term "Handy"
is not used like the English adjective but is
in fact a noun referring to a mobile
phone (though mobile phones are handy' of
course, so there's some logical connection). English
has had a particular influence in the world of advertising,
based on the notion that English substitutes for
German words make phrases sound more engaging and
up to date. It has influenced corporate business
too, with companies such as Deutsche Bank conducting
much of their affairs either in English or with
significant use of English terminology. Germany's
former state monopoly telephone company Deutsche
Telekom was at one point listing national phone
calls on its bills as German Calls
and local ones as City Calls. However, though
the use of English as a lingua franca, especially
in the business domain, is generally accepted, the
arbitrary use of English words in everyday German
is becoming a controversial issue. In recent months,
the German conservative party CSU (Christian
Social Union) has called for the language to be
protected in the country's constitution by a "linguistic
law" which would keep the infiltration of English
words at bay. German advertisers are beginning to
respond, with even quintessentially American companies
like McDonald's reverting from the slogan "Every
Time a Good Time" to "Ich
liebe es" (a German translation of their
US slogan "I'm lovin' it").
The word "Denglish"
is a blend of the German word "Deutsch",
and "English". It is
also often spelt "Denglisch",
incorporating "Englisch", the
German translation of "English".
An anglicised variant which is sometimes used is
"Germish", a blend
of "German" and "English".
"Denglish" is
one of a number of similar portmanteau expressions
which describe language varieties based on or heavily
influenced by English. These include "Chinglish"
(Chinese/English), "Singlish"
(a mixture of English, Malay and Chinese
dialects), "Hinglish" (Hindi/English)
and "Spanglish" (Spanish/English).
Do unto others
as you would have them do unto you
This saying is called the Golden Rule. People use
it to mean: treat people as you would like to be
treated yourself. It comes from the Bible.
Examples:
"Molly, stop drawing on Becky's picture,"
said the baby-sitter. "Would you like Becky
to mess up your picture? Remember: Do unto others
as you would have them do unto you."
Examples:
Confucius was the first person we know of to
teach this Golden Rule, although he put it this
way: "What you do not wish for yourself, do
not do to the others."
Don't put your eggs in
one basket
- Don't put all your eggs in
one basket
- put all eggs in one basket
- put
- egg
- basket
- all of your eggs in one basket
- Don't put all of your eggs
in one basket
What would happen if you dropped a basket full of
eggs?
1. When people use this saying, they mean that you
shouldn't count on one single thing and ignore other
possibilities. If you do, you could lose out.
Example:
"I called all my friends and told them
to meet me at the pool tomorrow. We're going to
have a pool party!" Kevin said. "How do
you know it's going to be sunny, Kevin?" asked
Cybill. "Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Better make plans for an indoor party, too, just
in case."
2. It can also mean don't put all your assets in
one place. Example:
Bill mortgaged his house and borrowed all he
could to open his new business. I wish him success;
after all, he put all his eggs in one basket.
Don't take any wooden
nickels
- do not take any wooden nickels
- not to take any wooden nickels
- take any wooden nickels
- take wooden nickels
- take
- wooden nickels
- wooden nickel
- wooden
- nickels
- nickel
Don't let anyone cheat you or take advantage of
you; don't do anything stupid.
Example:
Have a good trip to Chicago, and don't take any
wooden nickels. History:
This popular American expression was first used
in the early 1900s during the great migration from
rural areas to the big cities. The phrase meant
that one should beware of city slickers, people
who would sometimes pass out counterfeit coins ("wooden
nickels"). Soon wooden nickels
came to represent any kind of trickery or double-dealing.
According to "Listening to America"
by Stuart Berg Flexner, the warning not
to accept any wooden nickels, meaning, in a
more general sense, to be alert and not fall victim
to any schemes or swindles, had its roots in a "wood"
problem humorously attributed to rural consumers
in mid-1800's America. There were many jokes in
those days about "country bumpkins," hornswoggled
by unscrupulous Yankee peddlers, who found themselves
paying good money for "wooden nutmeg,"
"wooden cucumber seeds," and even
"wooden hams." In the popular urban
imagination, of course, any rube willing to buy
a wooden ham would also be likely to take
wooden nickels as change.
Then again, as it is pointed out in "Morris
Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins",
actual wooden coins were routinely "minted"
as promotional gimmicks during the numerous exhibitions
so popular in 19th century America, and often were
honored at "face value" by participating
merchants during the run of the show. To accept
a "wooden nickel" after
the show had closed its gates, however, would be
financial folly. So perhaps "don't take
any wooden nickels" wasn't always such
a frivolous admonition.
Donkey Kong
A very popular video game from many years ago that
featured a gorilla rolling barrels. It was made
in Japan, and the authors liked the sound, even
though there were no donkeys involved.
Kong, of course, refers to the world's most famous
gorilla, King Kong.
Donnybrook
A scene of uproar and disorder; a heated argument.
Example:
"The only principle recognised ... was akin
to that recommended to the traditionary Irishman
on his visit to Donnybrook Fair, 'Wherever you see
a head, hit it'." (Walter Bagehot, "The
English Constitution of 1867")
History:
We are in Ireland, in what was once a village on
the high road out of Dublin but which is now one
of that city's suburbs. King John gave a licence
in 1204 to hold an annual fair in Donnybrook.
By the eighteenth century it had become a vast assembly,
held on August 26 and the following 15 days each
year, a gathering-place for horse dealers, fortune-tellers,
beggars, wrestlers, dancers, fiddlers, and the sellers
of every kind of food and drink. It was renowned
in Ireland and beyond for its rowdiness and noise,
and particularly for the whiskey-fuelled fighting
that went on after dark. The usual weapon was a
stick of oak or blackthorn that Irishmen often called
a shillelagh (a word which derives
from the town of that name in County Wicklow). The
legend was that visitors to Donnybrook
fair would rather fight than eat. As Donnybrook
progressively became a residential suburb of Dublin,
the fair became more and more a nuisance until a
campaign was got up to have it closed; in 1855 the
rights to the fair were bought up by Dublin Corporation
and it was suppressed. It was around that time that
its name started to be used to describe a brawl,
at first in the form "like Donnybook
fair" but then elliptically.
Down the hatch
- Down
the hatch!
- Down
- hatch
To swallow a drink in one gulp; down the throat
and into the stomach.
Examples:
1) Another pickled egg went down the
hatch. Yum!
2) Grandma handed me a glass of smelly
medicine and said, "Down the hatch".
Etymology:
People have used this expression for centuries.
A ship's passengers, crew, and cargo pass through
an opening in the deck called the hatch. Sometimes
in the mid-1500s a clever toastmaker, probably a
sailor, realized that a drink going into a person's
mouth was like things going into the hatch
of a ship. He lifted a glass to his lips and said,
"Down the hatch," and a
new toast was born.
Draco
1. Also Dracon,
fl. 621 B.C., Athenian politician and law codifier.
Of his codification of Athenian customary law only
the section dealing with involuntary homicide is
preserved. From this and from later accounts in
the writings of Aristotle and Plutarch it appears
that in Athens the penalty of death was prescribed
for the most trivial offense. The code adopted the
principle that murder must be punished by the state
and not by vendetta. Though the code was considerably
ameliorated by Solon, its name became a synonym
for harsh legislation.
Example:
It is said that Draco, the Athenian legislator,
met with his death from his popularity, being smothered
in the theatre of Ægi'na by the number of
caps and cloaks showered on him by the spectators
(B.C. 590). (E. Cobham Brewer, 1810-1897, "Dictionary
of Phrase and Fable. 1898", http://www.bartleby.com/81/9543.html)
2. Northern constellation lying SE of Ursa
Minor and N of Lyra and Hercules. It is traditionally
depicted as a dragon. Draco contains the bright
star Eltanin (Gamma Draconis). Thuban (Alpha Draconis)
was the polestar 5,000 years ago, i.e., it was the
star nearest the celestial pole, but because of
the precession of the equinoxes, the polestar is
now Polaris. Draco reaches its highest point in
the evening sky in July, and is visible throughout
the year for observers north of 40°N lat.
Etymology:
Lat., = the dragon.
Example:
Hovering above the virgin (in the northern sky)
was the constellation Drago - the "dragon", whose
mouth was poised directly over the emerging "newborn."
Drago's long sinuous body stretched over about a
third of the stars in the sky. (Bernie Koerselman,
"A Great and Wondrous Sign", http://www.bereanpublishers.co.nz/End_Time_Prophecies/
a_great_and_wondrous_sign.htm)
3. Dragon genus.
Example:
A flying dragon, gliding lizard of the genus Draco,
was found in tropical forests of SE Asia.
Duke's mixture
an odd combination of things or a strange mixture
of items
History, examples:
Where the expression comes from is clearly puzzling.
Attempts are sometimes made, for example, to connect
it with "dukes" in the sense of
fists. In "The Agony of the Leaves"
in 1996, Helen Gustafson reported a story
that the name came from a brand of blended English
tea, created accidentally when the butler of
King George V dropped several containers of tea
and swept their contents into one container; the
king approved of the taste but self-effacingly refused
to allow his name to be attached to the blend, so
that it was marketed under the name of an anonymous
duke. You may not be too surprised to learn
that this story is incorrect. The original Duke's
Mixture was a brand of tobacco, which
was manufactured and sold by Washington Duke
of Durham, North Carolina, from the 1890s onwards.
His firm, the "Duke Tobacco Company",
also made and sold other brands. The expression
"Duke's mixture" seems from
anecdotal evidence to have begun to be used as an
elaborated form of "mixture" in
the 1930s. However, the oldest example in print
is from the sports pages of the "Burlington
Daily Times-News" of North Carolina, dated
4 April 1963: "Some people are born golfers.
Others are born duffers; some are a Duke's mixture
of the two breeds, remaining in the never-never
land of 'so-so' talent." But the earliest example
specifically relating to breeds of dog is this small
ad from the "Placerville Mountain Democrat
of California", 13 May 1971: "Help!
Duke's mixture of 11 gd. pups free to gd. home".
Dutch treat
- dutch
- Dutch
bargain
- Dutch
courage
- in
Dutch
- Dutch
uncle
- go
Dutch
- treat
- bargain
- courage
(often capitalized) with each person paying
his or her own way
Example:
Donna agreed to go to the movies with Derrick on
the condition that they go dutch.
Synonyms: Dutch; go dutch.
Etymology:
During the 17th century, the British and the Dutch
became bitter rivals in international commerce.
As the competition heated up, so did the invectives.
One of the earliest verbal abuses directed at the
Dutch was the term "Dutch
bargain", penned in 1654 to describe
a bargain made and sealed as if while drinking.
"Dutch courage" (courage
artificially stimulated especially by drink), "Dutch
uncle" (one who admonishes sternly
and bluntly), and "in Dutch"
(in disfavor or trouble) are some more examples.
The Dutch were also vilified as greedy. This expression
came from American slang in the late 1800s. Some
word experts think it was first used by people who
observed the habits of Dutch immigrants, who were
thrifty and saved their money. By the 20th century,
"dutch" and "dutch
treat" were being used as adverbs meaning
"with each person paying his or her own way".
d'oh
An exclamation that usually follows the sudden
realization that you did something stupid.
Examples:
1) Two plus two is five. D'oh! I
mean four! 2) Call 9-1-1! What's
the number? D'oh!
Etymology: Homer Simpson, the notorious
cartoon family man, is given credit for popularizing
this expression. Feel free to use it any time
you do something dumb.
da bomb
Excellent, the best.
Examples:
1) Michael Jordan was da bomb -
he was the greatest basketball player ever! 2)
The new Hudson Jazz CD is da bomb. I listen
to it every day!
Etymology:
'Da bomb' is African-American slang
that became popular in the 1990s. 'Da'
is an informal way to say 'the', and 'bomb'
refers to something very powerful and explosive.
Synonym: phat; fat; cool
daedal
[DEE-duhl] 1. Complex or
ingenious in form or function; intricate.
2. Skillful; artistic; ingenious.
Examples:
1) Most Web-site designers realize
that large image maps and daedal layouts are to
be avoided, and the leading World Wide Web designers
have reacted to users' objections to highly graphical,
slow sites by using uncluttered, easy-to-use layouts.
("Fixing Web-site usability", InfoWorld
<http://www.infoworld.com/>, December
15, 1997)
2) He gathered toward the end of
his life a very extensive collection of illustrated
books and illuminated manuscripts, and took heightened
pleasure in their daedal patterns as his own strength
declined. (Florence S. Boos, preface to "The
Collected Letters of William Morris")
3) I sang of the dancing stars,
I sang of the daedal earth, And of heaven, and
the giant wars, And love, and death, and birth.
(Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Hymn Of Pan")
Etymology:
"Daedal" comes from Latin
"daedalus" ("cunningly wrought"),
from Greek "daidalos" ("skillful,
cunningly created").
daisy cutter
- daisy
- cutter
- fragmentation
bomb
- BLU-82B
- antipersonnel
bomb
- anti-personnel
bomb
- fragmentation
- antipersonnel
- anti-personnel
- bomb
- Big
Blu
- BLU-82
- BLU82
- Big
- Blu
- BLU
1. A horse that hardly lifts its feet off
the ground while running.
2. (sports slang) A batted or served
ball that skims along near the ground (in cricket,
football, tennis, etc.); a low shot that skids
or takes a very low bounce, usually because of
backspin.
Example:
Some days the daisy cutters are going to be bound
outs and the line drives just long outs. The game
is still the game and we should remember to treasure
it. (Bob "Droopy Drawers" Sampson,
"Everything I needed to know about vintage
base ball I learned from the Grinders")
3. (mil. slang) A bomb with only
10 to 20 per cent explosive and the remainder
consisting of casings designed to break into many
small high-velocity fragments; most effective
against troops and vehicles.
Also: Daisy Cutter, Daisy cutter.
Example:
The BLU-82B/C-130 weapon system, nicknamed Commando
Vault in Vietnam and Daisy Cutter in Afghanistan,
is a high altitude delivery of 15,000 pound conventional bomb, delivered from
an MC-130 since it is far too heavy for the bomb
racks on any bomber or attack aircraft.
(<http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/dumb/blu-82.htm>)
Synonyms:
fragmentation bomb, antipersonnel bomb, anti-personnel
bomb, Big Blu, BLU-82, BLU82, BLU-82B.
History:
The "daisy cutter" is
commonly reported to be a thermobaric bomb, but
this is not the case. The BLU-82B
is a conventional explosive device incorporating
both agent and oxidizer (ammonium nitrate, aluminum
powder, and polystyrene). It is fitted with a
fuse extension to provide detonation 1 to 6
feet (0.3 to 2
m) above ground, minimizing the cratering effect
and maximizing the blast effect. The daisy
cutter was originally used to create an
instant clearing in dense jungle for a helicopter
landing zones. It can also be used to clear minefields
of pressure sensitive mines or as an anti-personnel
bomb relying on its extreme blast effects. The
United States Air Force has a 15,000
lb (6.8 t) daisy cutter bomb, the
BLU-82, which must be parachute
launched from the back of a transport plane, typically
a C-130, because of its large size. The Air Force
was lobbying for the development of an even larger,
30,000
lb (13.6 t) weapon, which would be deployed from
a traditional bomber (i.e. B-52, B-2, B1).
Daisy cutter bombs were first used
by the United States during the Vietnam War. The
concept for the bomb is attributed to an Air America
employee who grasped the idea during a night of
drinking. Shortly thereafter, his drinking buddy,
a Royal Lao Air Force airman at Louang Phrabang,
gathered the needed materials for the prototype
and started welding used aircraft gun barrels
directly into the nose fuse cavity of bombs.
When used gun barrels were in short supply, water
pipes were requisitioned for the task. The welded
pipe versions had several adverse effects, such
as vibration, pipe weld separation / breakage
while in flight and wind drag due to the barrels
not being capable of being aligned perfectly,
so that phase of development eventually gave way
to threaded steel water pipes screwed into the
nose cavity of the bombs, leaving only the tail
fuse for detonation.
The Daisy Cutter became better known
to the public when it was used in the 2001 U.S.
Attack on Afghanistan.
dander
[DAN-der]
1. Dandruff; specifically: minute
scales from hair, feathers, or skin that
may be allergenic.
2. Anger, temper.
Example:
Seeing his ex-girlfriend with another guy only
a week after they broke up really got Stan's dander
up.
Etymology:
How did "dander" acquire
its "anger" sense? Etymologists have
come up with a few possibilities, but nothing
is known for sure. Some experts have proposed,
tongue-in-cheek, that the meaning stems from the
image of an angry person tearing up his or her
hair by the fistful, scattering dandruff in the
process. Some
think it may come from a West Indian word "dander,"
which refers to a kind of ferment
and suggests "rising" anger (in English,
"ferment" can mean either
"an agent capable of causing fermentation"
or "a state of unrest or excitement").
Yet another proposed possibility is that the anger
sense was imported to America by early Dutch colonists
and is from their phrase "op donderen,"
meaning "to burst into a sudden rage."
dapple
[DAP-uhl]
noun
1. A small contrasting spot or blotch.
2. A mottled appearance, especially of
the coat of an animal (as a horse).
transitive verb
3. To mark with patches of a color or
shade; to spot.
intransitive verb
4. To become dappled.
adjective
5. Marked with contrasting patches or spots;
dappled.
Examples:
1) Look at... his cows with their
comic camouflage dapples .... (Arthur C. Danto,
"Sometimes Red," ArtForum, January 2002)
2) 70 diamond- and hexagonal-shaped
holes, 35 between the North End ramp and the northbound
lanes, and 35 between the northbound and southbound
lanes, allow light to filter through and dapple
the river below. (Raphael Lewis, "A walk
into the future," Boston Globe, May 9, 2002)
3) Gentle shafts of sunlight... dapple
the grass. (Gail Sheehy, "Hillary's Choice")
Etymology:
"Dapple" derives from
Old Norse "depill" ("a spot").
dark horse
[DARK-HORSS]
1. A usually little known contender (as
a racehorse) that makes an unexpectedly good showing.
Example:
The small-budget independent film emerged as a
dark horse, garnering more awards than any of
the big-budget Hollywood favorites.
2. An entrant in a contest that is judged
unlikely to succeed.
3. A political candidate unexpectedly nominated
usually as a compromise between factions.
History:
Sometimes in a horse race a horse whose
name and ability are not widely known puts on
a surprisingly good show and defeats its more
famous rivals. Such a horse is called "dark,"
not because of its color (which might be anything),
but because of its obscurity. Since the 19th century,
the term "dark horse"
has been extended from racehorses to obscure competitors
who do unexpectedly well in contests of other
kinds. Now it is often applied to candidates for
elected office whose chances appear to be poor.
dark-horse candidate
- dark horse
- candidate
- dark
- horse
A contestant about whom little is known and who
wins unexpectedly.
Example:
Everyone was surprised when Pedro won the election
because he was a dark-horse candidate.
Synonym: dark horse
Etymology:
There are at least three possible origins
to this idiom and all come from horse racing in
the early 1800s. The first is that a dark
horse was a fast runner whose speed was
kept secret ("dark") until the
race started, and who, to everyone's surprise,
won. The second is that an owner of a fast
horse sometimes dyed its hair black as a disguise
before a big race. The third is that a
certain American horse trader fooled people by
disguising his fast black stallion as an ordinary
saddle horse. He rode the horse into town, arranged
for a race, took bets on it, and always won. The
term was introduced into American politics with
the surprise win of President James Polk
in 1844.
dauntless
[DAWNT-lus]
Fearless, undaunted.
Example:
Following a defeat by the French, dauntless George
Washington wrote, "I luckily escap'd with't
a wound tho' I had four Bullets through my Coat
and two Horses shot under me." (Letter
to Robert Dinwiddie, July 18, 1755)
History, related words:
The history of the world is peopled with dauntless
men and women who refused to be subdued or "tamed"
by fear. The word "dauntless"
can be traced back to Latin "domare,"
meaning "to tame" or "to subdue."
When the verb "daunt" (a "domare"
descendant borrowed by way of Anglo-French) was
first used in the 14th century, it shared these
meanings. The now-obsolete "tame" sense
referred to the taming or breaking of wild animals
(particularly horses). An "undaunted"
horse was an unbroken horse. Not until the late
16th century did we use "undaunted"
with the meaning "undiscouraged and courageously
resolute" to describe people. By then, such
lionhearted souls could also be described as "undauntable,"
and finally, in "Henry VI", Part
3, Shakespeare gave us "dauntless."
de-policing
- depolicing
- selective disengagement
- selective
- disengagement
- tactical detachment
- tactical
- detachment
- selective enforcement
- enforcement
A law enforcement strategy in which police avoid
accusations of racial profiling by ignoring traffic
violations and other petty crimes committed by
members of visible minorities. Also:
depolicing.
Examples:
1) But as new leaders were promising
action, rank-and-file officers were reacting bitterly,
saying if they were faulted for doing their job,
they'd stop all proactive policing. It's a practice
known as "de-policing." During a February,
2001 riot in Seattle, when police were accused
of taking a hands-off approach, one officer was
quoted as saying: "Parking under a shady
tree to work on a crossword puzzle is a great
alternative to being labelled a racist and being
dragged through an inquest, a review board, an
FBI and U.S. attorney investigation and lawsuit."
(Michelle Shephard, "Seattle offers insights
into police profiling", Toronto Star, February
9, 2003)
2) Three out of four police departments
in Massachusetts have engaged in racial profiling
against nonwhite drivers, state Public Safety
Secretary Edward A. Flynn is expected to report
today. ... The attorney for the state's police
chiefs association predicted that many police
officers will respond to Flynn's ruling by "de-policing,"
doing fewer traffic stops lest they give more
ammunition to their critics. (Bill Dedman,
"Racial profiling is confirmed", The
Boston Globe, May 4, 2004)
Etymology, synonyms, difference:
"De-policing" = "de"
+ "police" + suff.
"-ing".
"De" - L. adv.
and prep. meaning "down from, off,
concerning; counter". Used as a prefix
in Eng., meaning "counter; reduce; remove;
reverse; derive".
"Police" - c.1530, from
M.Fr. "police" (1477), from L.
"politia" ("civil administration"),
from Gk. "polis" ("city").
Still used in Eng. for "civil administration"
until mid-19c.; application to "administration
of public order" (1716) is from Fr., and
originally referred to France or other foreign
nations. The verb "to keep order by means
of police" is from 1841.
"De-policing" is also
sometimes called "selective disengagement"
(2001) or "tactical detachment"
(2001). A broader term is "selective
enforcement" (1971), which means
ignoring misdemeanors to concentrate on major
crimes.
dead duck
1. A person who is ruined; person lacking
good prospects; someone in a hopeless situation
or condition.
Example:
He is a dead duck. When the police find him he
will have to go to jail.
2. A person or project unlikely
to continue or survive.
Example:
When Sam finds out that Laura spilled the goldfish
bowl, she's a dead duck.
3. Something useless, or worthless,
or utterly without promise.
Example:
The idea of another TV channel is now a dead duck.
4. Failure.
Example:
He finally admitted that the legislation was a
dead duck.
History:
This expression dates from the mid- to late-1800s.
"Dead" has often referred
to an idea, plan, project, or person that is ruined,
or hopeless. "Duck" added
alliteration to help the saying become popular.
dear John letter
- "dear
John" letter
- 'dear
John' letter
- "dear
John"
- 'dear
John'
- dear
John
- letter
- dear
- John
a letter written to end a romantic relationship.
Etymology:
The word must have come from the time of World
War II when a GI would
receive a letter from his girl back home telling
him he was no longer her first choice. Some people
think that a song on the theme of receiving a
"Dear John" letter was the origin of
the phrase. However, online sources say it appeared
only in 1953, several years after the phrase had
become established. A more plausible source is
supposed to be a pre-WW2 radio programme called
"Dear John", starring Irene Rich, which
was presented as a letter by a gossipy female
character to her never-identified romantic interest
and which opened with these words. It's conceivable
this played a part in the genesis of the term.
dearth
[DERTH]
1. Scarcity that makes dear; specifically:
famine.
2. An inadequate supply; lack.
Example:
Teri had forgotten to bring a book, and the dearth
of reading material in her uncle's house had her
visiting the town library the first morning of
her stay.
Etymology:
The facts about the history of the word "dearth"
are quite simple: the word derives from the Middle
English form "derthe," which
has the same meaning as our modern term. That
Middle English form is assumed to have developed
from an Old English form that was probably spelled
"dierth" and was related to "deore,"
the Old English form that gave us the word "dear."
("Dear" also once meant "scarce,"
but that sense of the word is now obsolete.) Some
form of "dearth" has been
used to describe things that are in short supply
since at least the 13th century, when it often
referred to a shortage of food.
debilitate
to impair the strength of.
Example:
After his wildly successful first novel, Alistair
was so debilitated by a severe case of writer's
block that he didn't produce another publishable
work for ten years.
Etymology:
From the Latin word for "weak" - "debilis".
Synonyms: enfeeble;
undermine, sap, cripple, disable.
"Debilitate", "enfeeble",
"undermine", "sap",
"cripple", and "disable"
all share in common the general sense "to
weaken". But "debilitate"
packs a potent punch (see Etymology).
Often used of disease or something that strikes
like a disease or illness, "debilitate"
might suggest a temporary impairment, but a pervasive
one. "Enfeeble", a very close
synonym of "debilitate",
connotes a pitiable, but often reversible, condition
of weakness and helplessness. "Undermine"
and "sap" suggest a weakening
by something working surreptitiously and insidiously.
"Cripple" implies causing a serious
loss of functioning power through damaging or
removing an essential part or element, while "disable"
usually suggests a sudden crippling.
debouch
- emerge
- issue
- discharge
- buccal
- embouchure
- debouchment
1. To cause to emerge or issue.
Synonym: discharge.
2. To march out into open ground.
Synonyms: emerge, issue.
Examples:
1) When the mill hands hassled Pete
at the Manchester Cafe, he took off his apron,
debouched from behind the counter and beat them
senseless. (Richard Rhodes, "Why They
Kill")
2) Bangladesh, one of the most populous
spots on earth, is virtually the delta of the
Brahmaputra and Ganga river systems, where numerous
streams and rivers debouch to the Bay of Bengal.
("Blood on the Border," Times of India",
April 23, 2001)
3) . . . one of those ancient towns
of central France where the streets wind upward
from the railway track, through scowling walls
of medievalism, until they debouch in the square
outside the cathedral door, surveyed by huge stone
animals from the cathedral tower and prowled around
on Sunday mornings by cats and desultory tourists.
(Jan Morris, "Fifty Years of Europe")
4) At their commander's signal,
the soldiers debouched from the jungle into the
dangerous open terrain.
Etymology:
"Debouch" first appeared
in English in the 18th century. It derives from
a French verb formed from the Latin prefix "de-"
("out of", "from") and the
noun "bouche" ("mouth"),
which itself derives ultimately from the Latin
"bucca" ("cheek, mouth").
"Debouch" is often used
in military contexts to refer to the action of
troops proceeding from a closed space to an open
one. It is also used frequently to refer to the
emergence of anything from a mouth, such as water
passing through the mouth of a river into an ocean.
The word's ancestors have also given us the adjective
"buccal" ("of or
relating to the mouth") and the noun "embouchure"
(the mouthpiece of a musical instrument or
the position of the mouth when playing one). The
noun form is "debouchment".
decal
a design prepared on special paper for transfer
to another surface
Etymology:
From French "decalcomanie", which was
created in the early 1860s to refer to the craze
for decorating objects with transfers (it combines
"decalquer", to transport a tracing,
with "manie", a mania or craze).
decalcomania
the art or process of transferring pictures and
designs to china, glass, marble, etc., and permanently
fixing them thereto.
Etymology:
Fr. décalcomanie.
decry
- disparage
- depreciate
- belittle
[dih-KRYE]
1. To depreciate (as a coin) officially
or publicly.
2. To express strong disapproval of.
Example sentence:
My grandmother decried the laziness and disobedience
that she insisted was becoming the norm among
young people today.
Etymology, synonyms, more examples:
"Decry," "depreciate,"
"disparage," and "belittle"
all mean "to express a low opinion of something,"
but there are also some subtle differences in
their use. "Decry," which
is a descendant of the Old French verb "crier,"
meaning "to cry," implies open condemnation
with intent to discredit ("He decried
her defeatist attitude"). "Depreciate"
implies that something is being represented as
having less value than commonly believed ("Critics
depreciated his plays for being unabashedly sentimental").
"Disparage" implies depreciation
by indirect means, such as slighting or harmful
comparison ("She disparaged polo as a
game for the rich"). "Belittle"
usually suggests a contemptuous or envious attitude
("He belittled the achievements of others").
defalcation
1. the act or an instance of embezzling
Example:
"'She made off with the money, an act of
defalcation that disqualifies her from receiving
a bankruptcy discharge,' the judge ruled."
("Orlando Sentinel", March 21, 2004)
2. a failure to meet a promise or an
expectation
History:
"The tea table shall be set forth every
morning with its customary bill of fare, and without
any manner of defalcation." No reference
to embezzlement there! This line, from a 1712
issue of "Spectator" magazine,
is an example of the earliest, and now archaic,
sense of "defalcation",
which is simply defined as "curtailment".
"Defalcation" is ultimately
from the Latin word "falx",
meaning "sickle" (a tool for cutting),
and it has been a part of English since the 1400s.
It was used early on of monetary cutbacks (as
in "a defalcation in their wages"),
and by the 1600s it was used of most any sort
of financial reversal (as in "a defalcation
of public revenues"). Not till the mid-1800s,
however, did "defalcation"
refer to breaches of trust that cause a financial
loss, or, specifically, to embezzlement.
defenestrate
[dee-FEN-uh-strayt]
To throw out of a window.
Examples:
1) Some of his apparent chums .
. . would still happily defenestrate him if they
caught him near a window. (Andrew Marr, "No
option bar the radical one," Independent,
July 5, 1994)
2) I defenestrated a clock to see if
time flies! (Lane Smith, "quoted in Who's
News," Time for Kids, September 25, 1998)
3) A woman, driven to fury by the manner
in which her lover prefers to lavish his attention
on a match on the telly rather than her, starts
to throw his possessions out of the window. He's
finally moved to stop her when she tries to defenestrate
his new Puma boots. (Jim White, "Budgets
substantial enough to buy most of the clubs in
the Endsleigh," Independent, April 6, 1996)
Etymology, related forms:
"Defenestrate" is derived
from Latin "de-" ("out of")
+ "fenestra" ("window").
The noun form is "defenestration".
deflagrate
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