DESPATCHES, false “dice with two sides, double four, double five, and
double six.”—_Times_, 27th November, 1856.
DEUCE, the devil.—_Old._ Stated by _Junius_ and others to be from DEUS.
DEUCE, twopence; DEUCE at cards or dice, one with two pips or holes.
DEVIL, a printer’s youngest apprentice, an errand boy.
DEVIL-DODGERS, clergymen; also people who go sometimes to church and
sometimes to meeting.
DEVIL’S-TEETH, dice.
DEVOTIONAL HABITS, horses weak in the knees and apt to stumble and fall
are said to have these.—_Stable._
DEWSKITCH, a good thrashing.
DIBBS, money; so called from the huckle bones of sheep, which have been
used from the earliest times for gambling purposes, being thrown up
five at a time and caught on the back of the hand like halfpence.
DICKEY, bad, sorry, or foolish; food or lodging is pronounced DICKEY
when of a poor description; “it’s all DICKEY with him,” _i.e._, all
over with him.
DICKEY, formerly the cant for a worn out shirt, but means now-a-days a
front or half-shirt. DICKEY was originally TOMMY (from the Greek, τομη,
a section), a name which I understand was formerly used in Trinity
College, Dublin. The students are said to have invented the term, and
the GYPS changed it to DICKEY, in which dress it is supposed to have
been imported into England.
DICKEY, a donkey.
DICKENS, synonymous with devil; “what the DICKENS are you after?” what
the d—l are you doing? Used by _Shakespere_ in the _Merry Wives of
Windsor_.