Исторический английский фразеологический словарь. Виктор Евгеньевич Никитин
is instituted for the purpose of opposing, or rather evading, the tax on powdered heads.”
Cross Keys. A common inn sign throughout Yorkshire, from the arms of the Archbishop of York.
70Crowd. Theatrical slang for members of a company collectively.
Crow over him. A cock always crows over a vanquished opponent in a fight.
Crutched Friars. Friars of the Holy Trinity, so called from the embroidered cross on their habits (Latin, cruciati, crossed). Their London house was located in the thoroughfare named after them.
Cuba. The native name of the island when Columbus discovered it.
Cully. A slang term applied to a man, mate, or companion. Its origin is the Romany cuddy, from the Persian gudda, an ass.
Cumberland. The land of the Cymri.
Cupboard. See “Dresser.”
Curaçoa. A liqueur first prepared at the West Indian island of the same name.
Currants. First brought from Corinth.
Cursitor Street. From the Cursitors’ Office that stood here. The Cursitors were clerks of Chancery, but anciently choristers, just as the Lord Chancellor himself was an ecclesiastic.
Curtain Road. From the “Curtain Theatre,” where Ben Jonson’s “Every Man in his Humour” was put on the stage.
Curzon Street. From George Augustus Curzon, created Viscount Howe, the ground landlord.
Cuspidor. The American term for a spittoon, derived from the Spanish escupidor, a spitter.
Cut me to the Quick. The quick of one’s fingers when cut into is most alive or sensitive to pain. See “Quicksilver.”
Cutpurse. A thief who, in days before pockets came into vogue, had no difficulty in cutting the strings with which a purse was suspended from the girdle.
71Cut the Line. A printer’s expression for knocking off work. Formerly compositors finished the line they were composing; nowadays Trades Unionism has made them so particular that they leave off in the middle of a line on the first stroke of the bell.
Cypress. A tree introduced to Western Europe from the island of Cyprus.
Cyprus. From kupras, the Greek name for a herb which grew on the island in profusion.
D
Dachshund. German for “badger-dog.”
Daffodil. An English corruption of the French d’Asphodel.
Dagonet. The pseudonym of Mr George R. Sims in The Referee, after the jester at the Court of King Arthur.
Daguerreotype. An early process of photography discovered by L. J. M. Daguerre.
Dahlgreen Gun. After its inventor, an officer in the United States Navy.
Dahlia. Introduced to Europe from Mexico in 1784 by Andrew Dahl, the Swedish botanist.
Daisy. From the Anglo-Saxon dæges eye, or “day’s eye,” on account of its sunlike appearance.
Dakota. From the Dacoits, a tribe of Indians found there.
Dale Road. From the residence of Canon Dale, poet, and Vicar of St Pancras.
Dalmatian. A species of dog bred in Dalmatia.
Dalston. The town in the dale when the north of London was more or less wooded.
Damage. See “What’s the Damage?”
Damascenes. From Damascus, famous for its plums.
Damascus. From the Arabic name of the city, Dimiskesh-Shâm.
72Damascus Blade. From Damascus, a city world famous for the temper of its sword blades.
Damask. First made at Damascus in Syria.
Damask Rose. Introduced to Europe from Damascus.
Damassin. A Damask cloth interwoven with flowers of gold or silver.
Dame School. The old name for a girls’ school taught by a spinster or dame.
Damsons. Properly Damascenes, from Damascus.
Dancing Chancellor. Sir Christopher Hatton so pleased Queen Elizabeth by his dancing at a Court masque that she made him a Knight of the Garter; subsequently he became Lord Chancellor of England.
Dandelion. A corruption of the French dent de lion, from its fancied resemblance to a lion’s tooth.
Dandy. From the French dandin, silly fellow, ninny.
Dantzic. Expresses the town settled by the Danes.
Danvers Street. From Danvers House, in which resided Sir John Danvers, to whom the introduction of the Italian style of horticulture in England was due.
Darbies. A pair of handcuffs, in allusion to Darby and Joan, who were inseparable.
Dardanelles. After the city on the Asiatic side founded by Dardanus, the ancestor of Priam, the last king of Troy.
Dark and Bloody Ground. Kentucky, the great battle-ground of the Indians and white settlers, as also that of the savage tribes amongst themselves.
Darmstadt. The stadt, or town, on the Darm.
Dartford. From the Saxon Darentford, the fort on the Darent.
Dartmoor. The moor in which the River Dart takes its rise.
Dartmouth. On the estuary of the River Dart.
73Dauphin. The title borne by the eldest son of the King of France until 1830, from the armorial device of a delphinus, or dolphin.
Davenport. After the original maker.
Davies Street. After Mary Davies, heiress of the manor of Ebury, Pimlico.
Davis Strait. After the navigator who discovered it.
Davy Jones’s Locker. Properly “Duffy Jonah’s Locker.” Duffy is the ghost of the West Indian Negroes; Jonah, the prophet cast into the sea; and “locker,” the ordinary seaman’s chest.
D. D. Cellars. See “Dirty Dick’s.”
Dead as a Door Nail. The reflection that, if a man were to be knocked on the head as often as is the “nail” on which a door knocker rests, he would have very little life left in him, easily accounts for this saying.
Dead Beat. Prostrate from fatigue, incapable of further exertion. Also the name of an American drink of whisky and ginger-soda after a hard night’s carousal.
Deadheads. In America persons who enjoy the right of travelling on a railway system at the public expense; in this country actors and pseudo “professionals,” who pass into places of amusement without paying. The origin of the term is as follows:–More than sixty years ago all the principal avenues of the city of Delaware converged to a toll gate at the entrance to the Elmwood Cemetery Road. The cemetery having been laid out long prior to the construction of the plank road beyond the toll gate, funerals were allowed to pass through the latter toll free. One day as Dr Price, a well-known physician, stopped to pay his toll he observed to the gatekeeper: “Considering the benevolent character of the profession to which I have the honour to belong, I think you ought to let me pass toll free.” “No, no, doctor,” the man replied; “we can’t afford that. You send too many deadheads through here as it is!” The story travelled, and the term “Deadheads” became fixed.
74Dead Reckoning. Calculating a ship’s whereabouts at sea from the log-book without aid from the celestial bodies.
Dead Sea. Traditionally on the site of the city of Sodom. Its waters are highly saline, and no fish are found in them.
Dean Street. After Bishop Compton, who, before he became Dean of the Savoy Chapel, held the living of St Anne’s, Soho.
Dean’s Yard. Affords access to the residence of the Dean of Westminster, which, with the cloisters, belonged to the abbots prior to the Reformation.
Death or Glory Men. The 17th Lancers, from their badge, a Death’s head superposed on the words “Or Glory.”
De