DIDOES, pranks or capers; “to cut up DIDOES,” to make pranks.
DIES, last dying speeches, and criminal trials.
DIGS, hard blows.
DIGGERS, spurs; also the spades on cards.
DIGGINGS, lodgings, apartments, residence; an expression probably
imported from California, or Australia, with reference to _the gold
diggings_.
DILLY DALLY, to trifle.
DIMBER, neat or pretty.—_Worcestershire_, but old cant.
DIMBER DAMBER, very pretty; a clever rogue who excels his fellows;
chief of a gang. _Old cant_ in the latter sense.—_English Rogue._.
DIMMOCK, money; “how are you off for DIMMOCK?” diminutive of DIME, a
small foreign silver coin.
DINARLY, money; “NANTEE DINARLY,” I have no money, corrupted from the
_Lingua Franca_, “NIENTE DINARO,” not a penny. _Turkish_, DINARI;
_Spanish_, DINERO; _Latin_, DENARIUS.
DING, to strike; to throw away, or get rid of anything; to pass to a
confederate.
DIPPED, mortgaged.—_Household Words_, No. 183.
DISGUISED, intoxicated.—_Household Words_, No. 183.
DISH, to stop, to do away with, to suppress; DISHED, done for, floored,
beaten, or silenced. A correspondent suggests that meat is usually DONE
BROWN before being DISHED, and conceives that the latter term may have
arisen as the natural sequence of the former.
DISHABBILLY, the ridiculous corruption of the _French_, DESHABILLE,
amongst fashionably affected, but ignorant “stuck-up” people.
DITHERS, nervous or cold shiverings. “It gave me the DITHERS.”
DIVE, to pick pockets.
DIVERS, pickpockets.
DO, this useful and industrious verb has for many years done service
as a slang term. To DO a person is to cheat him. Sometimes another
tense is employed, such as “I DONE him,” meaning I cheated or “paid
him out;” DONE BROWN, cheated thoroughly, befooled; DONE OVER, upset,
cheated, knocked down, ruined; DONE UP, used up, finished, or quieted.
DONE also means convicted, or sentenced; so does DONE-FOR. To DO a
person in pugilism is to excel him in fisticuffs. Humphreys, who fought
Mendoza, a Jew, wrote this laconic note to his supporter—“Sir,—I have
DONE the Jew, and am in good health. Rich. Humphreys.” Tourists use the
expression “I have DONE France and Italy,” meaning I have completely
explored those countries.
DOCTOR, to adulterate or drug liquor; also to falsify accounts.—_See_
COOK.
DODGE, a cunning trick. “DODGE, that homely but expressive
phrase.”—_Sir Hugh Cairns on the Reform Bill_, 2nd March, 1859.
_Anglo Saxon_, DEOGIAN, to colour, to conceal. The TIDY DODGE, as it
is called by street-folk, consists in dressing up a family clean and
_tidy_, and parading the streets to excite compassion and obtain alms.
A correspondent suggests that the verb DODGE may have been formed
(like _wench_ from _wink_) from DOG, _i.e._, to double quickly and
unexpectedly, as in coursing.
DODGER, a tricky person, or one who, to use the popular phrase, “knows
too much.”—_See_ DEVIL-DODGER.
DODGER, a dram. In _Kent_, a DODGER signifies a nightcap; which name is
often given to the last dram at night.
DOG, to follow in one’s footsteps on the sly, to track.
DOG-CHEAP, or DOG-FOOLISH, very, or singularly cheap, or foolish.
Latham, in his _English Language_, says:—“This has nothing to do with
dogs. The first syllable is god = _good_ transposed, and the second,
the ch—p, is chapman, _merchant_: compare EASTCHEAP.”—_Old term._
DOG-LATIN, barbarous Latin, such as was formerly used by lawyers in
their pleadings.
DOG-ON-IT, a form of mild swearing used by boys. It is just worthy of
mention that DOGONE, in _Anglo-Norman_, is equivalent to a term of
contempt. _Friesic_, DOGENIET.
DOGSNOSE, gin and beer, so called from the mixture being _cold_, like a
dog’s nose.