1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Nun the degen, steal the sword.
1827. Bulwer Lytton, Pelham, p. 325. ed. 1864. Tip him the degen.
Delicate, subs. (vagrants’).—A lurker’s (q.v.) false subscription book.
Dell, subs. (old).—1. A young girl; a virgin; a young wanton. Later, a
mistress: cf., doxy. For synonyms, see Titter.
1567. Harman, Caveat, p. 75. A Dell is a yonge wenche, able for
generation, and not yet knowen or broken by the vpright man.
1574–1637. Ben Jonson, Metam. Gipsies. Sweet doxies and dells My
Roses and Nells.
1609. Thomas Dekker, Lanthorne and Candlelight. Docked the Dell,
for a Coper meke His wach shall feng a Prounces Nab-chete.
1622. Head and Kirkman, English Rogue. I met a dell, I viewed her
well.
1694. Dunton, Ladies’ Dictionary. Dells are young bucksom wenches,
ripe, and prone to venery, but have not yet been debauch’d.
1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Dell, Doxy, a wench.
1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. I., ch. ix. He was seized ... by
the bailiff of Westminster when dead drunk, his liquor having been
drugged by his dells—and was shortly afterwards hanged at Tyburn.
Delog, subs. (back slang).—Gold. For synonyms, see Redge.
Delo-Nammow, subs. (back slang).—An old woman. For synonyms, see Old
Geezer.
Delve It, verb. phr. (tailors’).—To hurry with one’s work, head down
and sewing fast. Cf., dig, verb.
Demand the Box, verb. phr. (nautical).—To call for a bottle.
Demaunder for Glymmar, subs. phr. (old).—See quot.
1567. Harman, Caveat, p. 61. These Demaunders for Glymmar be for
the moste parte wemen; for glymmar in their language, is fyre.
These goe with fayned lycences and counterfayted wrytings, hauing
the hands and seales of suche gentlemen as dwelleth nere to the
place where they fayne them selues to haue bene burnt, and their
goods consumed with fyre. They wyll most lamentable demaunde your
charitie, and wyll quicklye shed salte teares, they be so tender
harted. They wyll neuer begge in that Shiere where their losses (as
they say) was.
Demi-doss, subs. (vagrants’).—See quot.
1886. Daily News, 3 Nov., p. 5, col. 5. Others, unable to find the
coin wherewith to obtain even a demi-doss, i.e., penny sleep.
Demi-Rep, subs. (old slang, now recognised).—A woman of doubtful
repute. [A contraction of demi-reputation.] For synonyms, see Barrack
Hack and Tart.
1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XV., ch. ix. That character which is
vulgarly called a demi-rep; that is to say, a woman who intrigues
with every man she likes, under the name and appearance of virtue
... in short, whom everybody knows to be what nobody calls her.
1754. Connoisseur, No. 4. An order of females lately sprung up ...
usually distinguished by the denomination of Demi-Reps; a word not
to be found in any of our dictionaries.
1846–48. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, vol. II., ch. xx. So they went on
talking about dancers, fights, drinking, demi-reps, until Macmurdo
came down.
Demnition Bow-wows, subs. phr. (common).—The ‘dogs’ which spell ‘ruin.’
Originally a Dickensism (see quot., 1838). For analogues, see Dead
Broke.
1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, II., 32. ‘I beg its little
pardon,’ said Mr. Mantalini, dropping the handle of the mangle, and
folding his arms together, ‘It’s all up with its handsome friend.
He has gone to the demnition bow-wows.’
1888. New York Herald, 25 March. There are some men who, if they
don’t make twice as much as they expect to make, will cry hard
times, and say that general business is going to the demnition
bow-wows, but these men would say the same thing in any event.
1889. The Nation, 19 Dec., p. 499, col. 1. Our great farming
industry—the very soil of National growth—is not going to the
demnition bow-wows.
Demnition Hot, adv. phr. (American).—Exceedingly warm; a heat supposed
to be akin to that of the place where they don’t rake out the fires at
night.
1888. San Francisco Weekly Examiner, 22 March. It was demnition
hot, and I commenced to hunt for soft spots in my saddle.
Demon, subs. (Australian prison).—1. A policeman. For synonyms, see
Beak and Copper.
2. (colloquial).—A super-excellent adept; e.g., The demon bowler = Mr.
Spofforth; The demon jockey = Fordham or Fred Archer, and so forth.
Den, subs. (common).—A place where intimates are received; one’s
‘diggings’ or ‘snuggery.’ [In Anglo-Saxon = a bed, cave, or lurking
place.] For synonyms, see Diggings.
1865. Punch, vol. XLVIII., p. 111 col. 2, s.v.
Dennis, subs. (old).—A small walking stick.
Dep, subs. (common).—1. A deputy; specifically the night porter or
chamberlain at padding or dossing kens.
1870. C. Dickens, Mystery of Edwin Drood, ch. v. I’m man-servant up
at the Travellers’ Twopenny in Gas Works Garding, this thing
explains, all man-servants at Travellers’ Lodgings is named Deputy.
2. (Christ’s Hospital).—A deputy Grecian, i.e., a boy in the form below
the Grecians.
Derby.—See Darby.
Derrey, subs. (thieves’).—An eyeglass. To take the derrey, (tailors’) =
to quiz, ridicule.
Derrick, subs. (old).—The gallows. [A corruption of Theodoric, the name
of the public hangman at the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of
the seventeenth centuries.] Now the name of an apparatus, resembling a
crane. Also, used as a verb = to hang; apparently the earliest recorded
sense. For synonyms, see Nubbing Cheat.
1600. W. Kemp, Nine Days’ Wonder, in Arber’s English Garner, vol.
VIII., p. 37. One that ... would pol his father, derick his dad! do
anything, how ill soever, to please his apish humour.
1607. Dekker, Jests to Make you Merie, in wks. (Grosart), ii., 318.
For might I have beene her Judge, shee should haue had her due, and
danst Derriks dance in a hempen halter.
1609. Dekker, Gul’s Horne-Booke, chap. ii. The Neapolitan will
(like Derick, the hangman) embrace you with one arme, and rip your
guts with the other.
Derwenter, subs. (Australian).—A convict. [From the penal settlement on
the banks of the Derwent, Tasmania.]
Despatchers, subs. (gamesters’).—False dice with two sides, double
four, five, and six.
1856. Times, 27 Nov., s.v.
Desperate, and Desperately, adj. and adv. (colloquial).—A metaphor of
excessiveness; e.g., desperately mashed = over head and ears in love.
Detrimental, subs. (society).—An ineligible suitor; also a male flirt.
1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 133, col. 1. Defining that zero of fortune
to stand below which constitutes a detrimental.
1859. Whitty, Political Portraits, p. 113. The fact is, that the
detrimentals won’t work; born into shifty affluence, it is easier
to struggle on in a false position than to struggle out of it.
1886. Household Words, 13 March, p. 400. A detrimental, in genteel
slang, is a lover, who, owing to his poverty is ineligible as a
husband; or one who professes to pay attentions to a lady without
serious intention of marriage, and thereby discourages the
intentions of others.
Detrimental-Club, subs. (society).—The Reform Club.
Deuce, Dewce, or Deuse, subs. (common).—1. The devil; perdition. Also
used as an ejaculative, e.g., The deuce! What the deuce! Who the deuce!
Deuce take you! etc. [Wedgwood: ‘The evolution of deuce from Thurs.,
the name of a Scandinavian demon is fully vouched.’ Skeat: Latin deus,
God, deus, borrowed from French usage, being found as an interjection
in early English works. Low German duus, Ger. daus are used similarly
and may have the same origin; others connect it with Armor. dus, teuz,
a goblin.] For synonyms, see Skipper.
b. 1670, d. 1729. Congreve. It was the prettiest prologue as he
wrote it; well, the deuce take me if I ha’n’t forgot it.
1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2nd ed.), s.v. Dewce.
1780. Mrs. Cowley, The Belle’s Stratagem, Act v., Sc. i. Miss C.
Deuce take her! She’s six years younger than I am.
1827. R. B. Peake, Comfortable Lodgings, Act I., Sc. iii. De C. I
am the Intendant of Police, sir. Sir H. The deuce you are!
1837. Barham, I. L. (Jackdaw of Rheims). There’s a cry and a shout,
And a deuce of a rout, And nobody seems to know what they’re about.
1854. Aytoun and Martin, Bon Gaultier Ballads. ‘To a
forget-me-not.’ I can’t tell who the deuce it was That gave me this
Forget-me-not.