Исторический английский фразеологический словарь. Виктор Евгеньевич Никитин
From the Sanskrit Dakshina, the south, being that portion of Hindustan south of the Vindhya Mountains.
December. The tenth month of the Roman Calendar when the year was reckoned from March.
Decemvir. One of the ten legislators of Rome appointed to draw up a code of laws.
Decoration Day. 30th May, observed in the United States for decorating the graves of the soldiers who fell in the struggle between the North and South.
Deemster. See “Doomster.”
Dehaley Street. From the residence of the Dehaleys.
Delaware. After the Governor of Virginia, Thomas West, Lord Delaware, who died on board his vessel while visiting the bay in 1610.
Del Salviati. The assumed name of the famous Italian painter Francesco Rossi, in compliment to his patron, Cardinal Salviati, who was born in the same year as himself.
Demijohn. A corruption of Damaghan, in Persia, a town anciently famous for its glass-ware.
75Democracy. From the Greek demos, people, and kratein, to rule. Government by the people.
Denbigh. From Dinbach, the Celtic for “a little fort.”
Denmark. Properly Danmark, the mark or boundary of the land of the Danes.
Depot. The American term for a railway station.
Deptford. The deep ford over the Ravensbourne.
Derby. Saxon for “deer village.” The Derby stakes at Epsom were founded by Edward Smith Stanley, Earl of Derby, in 1780.
Derrick. The old name for a gibbet and now for a high crane. So called after a seventeenth-century hangman at Tyburn.
Derry Down. The opening words of the Druidical chorus as they proceeded to the sacred grove to gather mistletoe at the winter solstice. Derry is Celtic for “grove.”
Dessborough Place. From Dessbrowe House, in which resided the brother-in-law of Oliver Cromwell.
Detroit. French for “strait.”
Deuteronomy. A Greek word signifying the second giving of the Law by Moses.
Devereaux Court. See “Essex Street.”
Devil’s Sonata. One of Tartini’s most celebrated compositions. He dreamt that the Evil One appeared to him playing a sonata on the violin. At its conclusion his visitor asked: “Tartini, canst thou play this?” Awaking with his mind still full of the grotesque music, Tartini played it over, and then recorded it permanently on paper.
Devil to Pay. When money was lost by unsuccessful litigation it passed into the hands of lawyers, who were thought to spend it where they spent much of their time–viz. at the Devil Tavern in Fleet Street. The money, therefore, went to the Devil.
76Devizes. From the Latin Devisæ, denoting the point where the old Roman road passed into the district of the Celts.
Devon. After a Celtic tribe, the Damnonii.
Devonshire House. The town house of the Duke of Devonshire.
Devonshire Square. From the mansion of William Cavendish, Earl of Devonshire, who died here in 1628.
Diamond King. The late Mr Alfred Beit, the South African financier, whose wealth rivalled that of the Rothschilds.
Dickey. A shirt front, which often has to do duty for a clean shirt. So called from the German decken, to hide.
Diddler. A schemer, an artful dodger. After Jeremy Diddler, the chief character in the old farce, “Raising the Wind.”
Die Hards. The 57th Foot. When the regiment was surrounded at Albuera, their Colonel cried: “Die hard, my lads; die hard!” And fighting, they died.
Digger Indians. Tribes of the lowest class who live principally upon roots. They have never been known to hunt.
Diggings. A Bohemian term for “lodgings.” Not from the Californian gold diggings, as generally supposed, but from the Galena lead miners of Wisconsin, who called both their mines and their underground winter habitations “diggings.”
Dime. A ten-cent piece, from the French dixme, or dîme, tenth–i.e. of a dollar.
Dimity. First brought from Damietta, Egypt.
Dine with Duke Humphrey. An old saying of those who were fated to go dinnerless. When the “Good Duke Humphrey,” son of Henry IV., was buried at St Albans, a monument to his memory was to be erected in St Paul’s Cathedral. At that time, as for long afterwards, the nave of our national fane was 77a fashionable promenade. When the promenaders left for dinner, others who had no dinners to go to explained that they would stay behind in order to look for the Good Duke’s monument.
Dining-room Servant. An Americanism for waiter or male house servant.
Diorama. See “Panorama.”
Dirty Dick’s. The noted tavern in Bishopgate, said to have been associated with Nathaniel Bentley, the miser, who never washed himself. As a matter of fact, Dirty Dick was an ironmonger in Leadenhall Street. After his death his effects were bought and exhibited at the Bishopgate tavern, together with his portrait as a sign.
Dirty Shirts. The 101st Foot, who were hotly engaged at the battle of Delhi in their shirt sleeves.
Dissenters. Synonymous with the Nonconformists. Those who dissented from the doctrines of the Church of England and those likewise who, at a later period, separated from the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
Distaffs’ Day. The old name for 7th January, when, Christmas being over with Twelfth Night, women returned to their distaffs or spindles.
Divan. A Turkish word signifying a Council of State, from the fact that the Turkish Council Chamber has low couches ranged round its walls, plentifully supplied with cushions. The name has been imported into Western Europe specifically to imply a low-cushioned sofa or couch.
Dixie’s Land. The Negroes’ paradise in slavery days. Dixie had a tract of land on Manhattan Island. He treated his slaves well, but as they increased sold many of them off to masters further afield. They always looked back to Dixie’s Land as an ideal locality, associated with heaven, and when one of them died his kith and kin said he had gone to Dixie’s Land.
Dizzy. The nickname of Benjamin Disraeli, afterwards 78Earl of Beaconsfield, the great political opponent of Mr Gladstone.
Doctor. There are three kinds of Doctors–of Law, Physic, and Divinity. The first and the last are essentially University degrees, with which the vulgar orders of the people have little or no acquaintance. They know only of one “Doctor,” the medical practitioner, and since he wears a frock coat and a silk hat he is entitled to all the respect that they can pay him.
Doctors’ Commons. Anciently a college for Professors of Canon and Civil Law, who dined in common on certain days in each term, similar to students at the Inns of Court before they are called to the Bar.
Dog and Duck. A tavern sign indicative of the old sport of duck hunting by spaniels in a pond.
Dog-cart. Originally one in which sportsmen drove their pointers and setters to the field.
Dog his Footsteps. To follow close to his heels like a dog.
Dog in the Manger. From the old story told of the dog who did not require the hay for himself, yet refused to allow the ox to come near it.
Dog Rose. From the old idea that the root of this rose-tree was an antidote for the bite of a mad dog.
Dog Watch. A corruption of “Dodge Watch,” being a watch of two hours only instead of four, by which dodging seamen gradually shift their watch on successive days.
Dolgelley. Celtic for “dale of hazels.”
Dollar. From the German Thaler, originally Joachims-Thaler, the silver out of which this coin was struck having been found in the Thal or Valley of St Joachim in Bohemia.
Dollars and Dimes. An Americanism for money generally. See “Dime.”
Dolly Shop. The old name for a rag shop