English Synonyms.—Mollisher; rib; grey-mare; warming-pan; splice;
lawful blanket; autem-mort; comfortable impudence; comfortable
importance; old woman; evil; missus; lawful jam; yoke-fellow;
night-cap; legitimate, or legiti; weight-carrier; mutton-bone;
ordinary; pillow-mate; supper-table; Dutch clock; chattel;
sleeping-partner; doxy; cooler; mount; bed-fagot.
French Synonyms.—Une marque de cé (thieves’); une légitime (fam. =
legitimate); mon gouvernement (pop. = my old woman); mon associée
(printers’ = my partner); mon bien (popular, bien = chattel); une gerce
(thieves’: also a mattress).
German Synonyms.—Keibe, Keibel, Keife (also = woman or concubine: from
O.H.G. Chebisa, M.H.G. Kebese, Kebse = illegitimate); Krönerin
(literally a ‘horneress’; Kröne = to be provided with horns); Rammenin
(Hanoverian: from the gypsy romnin).
To do a dutch, verb. phr. (military).—To desert; to run away. For
synonyms, see Amputate.
That beats the Dutch, phr. (common).—A sarcastic superlative.
1775. Revolutionary Song [New Eng. Hist., Reg. Ap. 1857], p. 191.
And besides all the mortars, bombs, cannons, and shells, And
bullets and guns, as the newspaper tells, Our cargoes of meat,
drink, and cloaths beat the dutch; Now who would not tarry and take
t’other touch?
To talk Dutch, Double-Dutch, or High-Dutch, verb. phr. (common).—To
talk gibberish; by implication, nonsense.
1604. Marlowe, Faustus, Sc. iv. Wag. Villain—call me Master Wagner,
and let thy left eye be diametarily fixed upon my right heel, with
quasi vestigiis uostris insistere. Clown. God forgive me, he speaks
dutch fustian.
1790. Dibdin, The Sweet Little Cherub. And, my timbers! what lingo
he’d coil and belay, Why ’twas just all as one as high dutch.
1876. C. H. Wall, trans. Molière, vol. I., p. 116. He never taught
me anything but my prayers, and though I have said them daily now
these fifty years, they are still double dutch to me.
The Dutch have taken Holland, phr. (common).—A quiz for stale news.
Cf., Queen Bess (or Queen Anne) is dead; the ark rested on mount
Ararat, etc.
Dutch-Auction or Sale, subs. (cheap-jacks’).—A sale at minimum prices;
a mock-auction.
1872. Daily Telegraph, 30 Nov. So thoroughly corrupt and vicious
has the existing system become that it would be well-nigh a relief
to fall back on the old dutch auction, by which an article was put
up at a high price, and, if nobody accepted the offer, then reduced
to a lower, the sum first required being gradually decreased until
a fair value was attained.
1885. Punch, 21 Feb., p. 93. Gives up India to Russia, Africa to
Germany, puts up garrisoned fortresses and coaling stations at
dutch auction, and lets colonies run loose.
Dutch-Bargain, subs. (old).—A bargain all on one side.
‘In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch, Is giving too
little and asking too much!’
Dutch-Clock, subs. (music-hall).—1. A wife. Cf., Dutch and sense 2.