Dilberries, subs. (common).—Fæcal and seminal deposits in the hair of
the anus and the female pudendum; clinkers.
Dilberry-bush, subs. (common).—The hair about the female pudendum or
the anus.—See Dilberries.
Dildo, subs. (old).—An instrument (of wax, horn, leather, india-rubber,
gutta-percha, etc., and other soft material), shaped like, and used by
women as a substitute for, the penis. Now called a broom-handle or
broomstick, the pudendum in this connection = broom (q.v.). [Bailey:
from It., diletto, a woman’s delight or from dally = to toy.] In
Lombardy, passo tempo.
c. 1672. Butler, Dildoides (Occasioned by Burning a hogshead of
dildoes at Stocks Market).
1886. Burton, The Thousand Nights and a Night, vol. x, p. 239. Of
the penis succedaneus, that imitation of the Arbor-vitæ, or
Sotor-Kosmou, which the Latins called phallus and fascinum, the
French godemiché, and the Italians passatempo and diletto (whence
our dildo), every kind abounds, varying from a stuffed ‘French
Letter’ to a cone of ribbed horn, which looks like an instrument of
torture.
Verb (old).—To wanton with a woman. Cf., subs., sense. For synonyms,
see Firkytoodle.
Dilly, subs. (common).—A night cart; formerly a coach. [From Fr.,
diligence.]
17(?). The Anti-Jacobin. So down thy hill, romantic Ashbourne
glides, The Derby Dilly having four inside.
1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. ix. One which they called a dilly.
Dilly-bag, subs. (Australian).—A wallet; or scran-bag.
1880. A. C. Grant. Their own dilly-bags have nothing of value or
interest in them.
Dilly-dally, verb (colloquial).—To loiter; hesitate; trifle. [A
duplication of dally.]
1740. Richardson, Pamela, i., 275. What you do, sir, do; don’t
stand dilly-dallying.
1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XVIII., ch. xii. But if I had
suffered her to stand shill I shall I, dilly dally, you might not
have had that honour yet awhile.
1869. W. S. Gilbert, The Bohemian Girl. When at a pinch you should
never dilly-dally.
Dimber, adj. (old).—Pretty, neat, lively. Variants are scrumptious;
natty. Fr., batif (thieves’); fignole (thieves’); girofle (thieves’).
1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874), s.v.
1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.
Dimber Cove = a sprightly man, a gentleman: Dimber Mort = a pretty
girl. Fr., une largue girofle. Cf., Dimber-damber.
1837. Disraeli, Venetia, book I., ch. xiv. ’Tis a dimber cove,
whispered one of the younger men to a companion: Ibid, Tip me the
clank like a dimber mort.
Dimber-damber, subs. (old).—A captain of thieves or vagrants. [From
dimber (q.v.), skilful, etc., + damber (q.v.), a chief or head man.]
1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I, ch. v., p. 48 (1874).
1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict.
1749. Life of Bampfylde-Moore Carew, ‘Oath of the Canting Crew.’...
No dimber damber, angler, dancer, prig of cackler, prig of prancer.
1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. No; no refusal,
exclaimed a chorus of voices. Dick Turpin must be one of us. He
shall be our dimber damber.
Dimmock, subs. (common).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.
1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. IV., ch. i. ‘I have ... pocketed
the dimmock’ (‘here ’tis,’ continued he, parenthetically slapping
his pockets).
Dinahs, subs. (Stock-Exchange).—Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Ordinary
Stock.
Dinarly or Dinali, subs. (theatrical).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual
and Gilt. Nantee or Nanti Dinarly = no money. Sp., dinero; Lingua
Franca, niente dinaro = not a penny.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 149.
‘I have got no money’ is, ‘My nabs has nanti dinali’ [among
strolling actors].
1870. South London Press, 8 Oct., Advt. So don’t forget when you’ve
the tin To here spend your ‘Dinarley.’
Dine-out, verb. phr. (common).—To go dinnerless, to dine with Duke
Humphrey (q.v.). Variants: to take a Spitalfields’ breakfast (q.v.), or
an Irishman’s dinner (q.v.), also to go out and count the railings
(q.v.). Fr., Se coucher bredouille = to go to bed supperless; aller
voir défiler les dragons = to go and watch the dragoons march past;
diner en ville = to dine in town, i.e., to munch a roll in the street
or to eat nothing; lire le journal.
1888. All the Year Round, 9 June. p. 542. To ‘dine with Duke
Humphrey,’ or, as it is now sometimes more shortly phrased, to
‘dine out,’ in both cases meaning not to dine at all.
Dine with Duke Humphrey, verb. phr. (old).—To go dinnerless; to dine
out (q.v.).—[Origin uncertain; supposed, however, to refer to Humphrey,
Duke of Gloucester, the youngest son of Henry the Fourth, who, though
really buried at St. Alban’s, was reputed to have a monument in Old St.
Paul’s, from which one part of the church was termed Duke Humphrey’s
Walk. Old Paul’s was a regular promenade, especially for lackeys out of
livery, and ruffians and sea-captains out of luck. Thus Falstaff
explains of Bardolph that he ‘got him in Paul’s,’ while Jonson actually
lays the scene of Every Man Out of His Humour (1599), in ‘The Middle
Aisle of St. Paul’s,’ to introduce his cavaliero Shift. Shift and
Bardolph, in fact, were what is now called ‘inspectors of public
buildings’; they walked in Paul’s on the chance of a pick-up, and they
dined by looking at the monuments. The Bodleian Library was founded by
the same Duke Humphrey, and the Gentleman’s Mag. (1794, p. 529) records
that when a student stayed on during the dinner hour, at which time it
used to be closed, he was said to dine with Duke Humphrey. An
alternative traces the saying to the report that Duke Humphrey was
starved to death. Chambers, in his Historical Sketch of St. Giles’s
Cathedral, Edinburgh, records a similar pleasantry concerning the tomb
of the Earl of Murray, and quotes a Scots poet, one Sempill (16th
cent.), who makes a hungry idler say: I dined with saints and
gentlemen, E’en sweet St. Giles and the Earl of Murray. See Wharton,
Hist. of Eng. Poetry (ed. 1824), vol. IV., p. 361.
1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, in wks., ii., 18. I ... retired me
to Paules, to seeke my dinner with Duke Humfrey.
1592. Gab. Harvey, Four Letters. To seek his dinner in Poules with
Duke Humphrey.
1608. The Penniless Parliament of Threadbare Poets. And if I prove
not that a mince-pie is the better weapon, let me dine twice a week
at Duke Humphry’s table.
1664. H. Peacham, Worth of a Penny, in Arber’s Garner, vol. VI., p.
273. Who, having been troubled with over much money, afterward, in
no long time, have been fain, after ‘a long dinner with Duke
Humphrey,’ to take a nap on ‘penniless bench,’ only to verify the
old proverb, ‘A fool and his money is soon parted.’
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. lv. My mistress and her mother
must have dined with Duke Humphrey, had I not exerted myself in
their behalf.
1884. Daily Telegraph, 22 Jan., p. 5, col. 3. In future, not even
the most impecunious of diners-out must accept an invitation from
Duke Humphrey.
Ding, verb (Old Cant, in some senses).—Used as a colloquialism (as in
Scott) it signifies to knock, to strike down, to pound or (as in quot.,
1786) to give way: while in slang it means to get rid of; to pass to a
confederate; ‘to steal by a single effort.’ To ding a castor = to
snatch a hat and run with it: the booty being dinged if it has to be
thrown away. Going upon the ding = to go on the prowl. Ding the tot! =
Run away with the lot!
c. 1340. Hampole, Pricke of Conscience, 7015 (ed. Morris). Right
swa pe devels salle ay dyng, on pe synfulle, withouten styntyng.
1600. Sir John Oldcastle, Act III., Sc. ii. For the credit of
Dunstable, ding down the money to-morrow.
1610. Jonson, Alchemist, V., iii. Sur. [without]. Down with the
door. Kas. [without]. ’Slight, ding it open.
1773. O. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, Act II. If I’m to have
any good, let it come of itself; not to keep dinging it, dinging it
into one so.
1786. Burns, A Dream. But facts are chiels that winna ding.
1821. Pierce Egan, Tom and Jerry [ed. 1890], p. 78. Oh I took him
such a lick of his mummer, and dinged his rattle clean out of his
hand.
b. 1793, d. 1872. Dean Ramsey. Our meenister’s dinged the guts out of
twa Bibles.
1846. Dickens, Dombey, ch. ix., p. 74. These were succeeded by
anchor and chain-cable forges, where sledge hammers were dinging
upon iron all day long.
Ding-Bat, subs. (American).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.
Ding-Boy, subs. (old).—A rogue; a bully.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Ding-Dong. To go at it, or to it, ding-dong, verb. phr.
(colloquial).—To tackle with vigor, or in right good earnest. Formerly,
helter-skelter, (Grose, 1785).
1887. H. Smart, Saddle and Sabre, ch. xx. For the next hundred
yards it was a ding-dong struggle between them.
Dinge, subs. (Royal Military Academy).—A picture or painting.
Dinged, adj. (American).—A euphemism for ‘darned’ = dammed. Sometimes
Ding-goned.—See Oaths.
Dinger, subs. (old).—1. A thief who throws away his booty to escape
detection. [From ding (q.v.), to throw away + er.]