"_Dank_ ling forgot will quickly rot."
DANKER. A north-country term for a dark cloud.
DANSKERS. Natives of Denmark.
DARBIES. An old cant word for irons or handcuffs; it is still retained.
DARE. An old word for to challenge, or incite to emulation; still in
full use.
DARE-DEVIL. One who fears nothing, and will attempt anything.
DARKENING. Closing of the evening twilight.
DARK GLASSES. Shades fitted to instruments of reflection for preventing
the bright rays of the sun from hurting the eye of the observer.
DARKS. Nights on which the moon does not shine,--much looked to by
smugglers.
DARKY. A common term for a negro.
DARNING THE WATER. A term applied to the action of a fleet cruising to
and fro before a blockaded port.
DARRAG. A Manx or Erse term for a strong fishing-line made of black hair
snoods.
DARSENA. An inner harbour or wet dock in the Mediterranean.
DARTS. Weapons used in our early fleets from the round-tops.
DASH. The present with which bargains are sealed on the coast of Africa.
DASHING. The rolling and breaking of the sea.
DATOO. West wind in the Straits of Gibraltar: very healthy. Also, a
Malay term of rank, and four of whom form the council of the sultan of
the Malayu Islands.
DATUM. The base level.
DAVID'S-STAFF. A kind of quadrant formerly used in navigation.
DAVIE. An old term for davit.
DAVIT. A piece of timber or iron, with sheaves or blocks at its end,
projecting over a vessel's quarter or stern, to hoist up and suspend one
end of a boat.--_Fish-davit_, is a beam of timber, with a roller or
sheave at its end, used as a crane, whereby to hoist the flukes of the
anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the planks of the ship's
side as it ascends, and called fishing the anchor; the lower end of this
davit rests on the fore-chains, the upper end being properly secured by
a tackle from the mast-head; to which end is hung a large block, and
through it a strong rope is rove, called the fish-pendant, to the outer
end of which is fitted a large hook, and to its inner end a tackle; the
former is called the fish-hook, the latter the fish-tackle. There is
also a davit of a smaller kind, occasionally fixed in the long-boat, and
with the assistance of a small windlass, used to weigh the anchor by the
buoy-rope, &c.
DAVIT-GUYS. Ropes used to steady boats' davits.
DAVIT-ROPE. The lashing which secures the davit to the shrouds when out
of use.
DAVIT-TOPPING-LIFT. A rope made fast to the outer end of a davit, and
rove through a block made fast to a vessel's mast aloft, with a tackle
attached. Usually employed for bringing the anchor in-board.
DAVY JONES. The spirit of the sea; a nikker; a sea-devil.
DAVY JONES'S LOCKER. The ocean; the common receptacle for all things
thrown overboard; it is a phrase for death or the other world, when
speaking of a person who has been buried at sea.
DAW-FISH. The _Scyllium catulus_, a small dog-fish.
DAWK-BOAT. A boat for the conveyance of letters in India; _dawk_ being
the Hindostanee for _mail_.
DAY. The astronomical day is reckoned from noon to noon, continuously
through the twenty-four hours, like the other days. It commences at
noon, twelve hours after the civil day, which itself begins twelve hours
after the nautical day, so that the _noon_ of the civil day, the
_beginning_ of the astronomical day, and the _end_ of the nautical day,
occur at the same moment. (_See the words_ SOLAR and SIDEREAL.)