Darby, subs. (old).—Ready money. [One Derby is supposed to have been a
noted sixteenth century usurer.—See quots. under Darbies, sense 1.] For
synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.
1688. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia (list of cant words), s.v.
c. 1712. R. Estcourt, Prunella, Act i., p. 4. Come nimbly lay down
darby; Come, pray sir, don’t be tardy.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
Darby Allen, subs. phr. (Lancashire).—Cajolery; ‘chaff’; ‘gammon.’
Darby-Roll, subs. (old).—A gait peculiar to felons of long standing:
the result of long shackles-wearing. Cf., Baker-kneed.
Darby’s-Dyke, subs. (old).—The grave; also death.
Darby’s-Fair, subs. (old).—The day of removal from one prison to
another for trial.
Dard, subs. (old).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick.
Dark. To get the dark, verbal phr. (prison).—To be confined in the
punishment cell.
Dark-Cull or Cully, subs. (old).—A married man with a secret
mistress.—[Grose, 1785.]
Dark-Horse or Dark’un, subs. (turf).—A horse whose pace is unknown to
the backers; figuratively, a candidate about whom little is known.
1831. Disraeli, Young Duke, ch. v., p. 66 (ed. 1866). All the
ten-to-oners were in the rear, and a dark horse, which had never
been thought of, and which the careless St. James had never even
observed in the list, rushed past the grand stand in sweeping
triumph.
1853. Diogenes, vol. II., p. 271. Farewell! oh, farewell to the
lists On whose varying prices I’ve hung; I care nought for the
dark-horse that lives Unknown, who shall put me all right.
1884. Hawley Smart, Post to Finish, ch. i. He had beaten everything
that was going to oppose him, with the exception of some two or
three dark colts, of which little was expected.
Dark-House, subs. (old).—A mad-house. Shakspeare (All’s Well, etc.,
ii., 3) used it to denote the seat of gloom and discontent.
Darkmans, Darks, Darky, subs. (old).—The night; also twilight.
1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 84. Bene Lightmans to thy
quarromes, in what lipken hast thou lypped in this darkemans,
whether in a lybbege or in the strummell?
1667. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candlelight. ‘Canting Rithmes.’
Enough—with bowsy Cove Maund Nace, Tour the Parting Coue in the
darkeman’s Case.
1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.
1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxviii. I think we should be down
upon the fellow, one of these darkmans, and let him get it well.
1857. Punch, 31 Jan. ‘Dear Bill, this Stone Jug.’ And at darkmans
we run the rig just as we please.
English Synonyms. Blackmans; blind; blindman’s holiday (twilight).
French Synonym. La sorgue, or sorne.
German Synonyms. Mittelaile (midnight); Choschech, Chauschech, or
Koschech (from the Hebrew choschach = a moonless night); Eref
(specifically the eve of a Sabbath or festival); Fichte (literally a
fir-tree); Ratt (Gypsy); Schwärze = (the black ’un); Zofon or Zofen
(from Hebrew zophan = to hide).
Italian Synonyms. Bruna or brunora (Fr. brune); materna (properly = the
maternal).
Spanish Synonym. Sorna.
Portuguese Synonym. Zona.
Darkman’s Budge, subs. phr. (old).—A housebreaker’s confederate, who
slips into a house during the day, hides there, and opens the door at
night.—[Grose, 1785.]
Darky, or Darkey, subs. (old).—1. A dark lantern; a bull’s eye.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Stow the darkee and bolt, the cove of
the cub is fly.