1872. Morning Advertiser, 3 April.
David Jones or David Jones’s Locker.—See under Davy.
David’s Sow. Drunk as David’s, or Davy’s sow, adv. phr. (old).—Beastly
drunk. [For a somewhat far-fetched derivation, see Grose’s Dict. Vulg.
Tongue.]
c. 1720. Gay, New Song of New Similes. Though as drunk as David’s
sow.
1733. Bailey, Erasmus, p. 127. When he comes home, after I have
been waiting for him till I do not know what time at night, as
drunk as David’s sow, he does nothing but lie snoring all night
long by my side.
1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xiv. Fellows who have no
respect for the articles of war, and who get as drunk as David’s
sow.
Davy, subs. (colloquial).—1. An affidavit. Synonymous, by implication,
with ‘God,’ in so help, or s’welp me davy, or Alfred Davy (q.v.). Fr.,
Je t’en fous mon billet or mon petit turlututu = I’ll take my davy on
it.
1764. O’Hara, Midas, II., iv. And I with my davy will back it, I’ll
swear.
1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxii. ‘I’ll take my davy,’
says the captain, ‘it’s some Yankee trick.’
1842. Punch, vol. III., p. 136. Tell me on thy davy; whether thou
dost dear thy Colin hold.
1884. Daily Telegraph, 4 Sept., p. 2, col. 2. You may take your
davy I didn’t care anything about that.