Dab: To be a 'dab hand' at something means that you have a
special skill for that particular task. Why 'dab'? As far as I can find
out the word, which goes back to the 12C in the sense of a
'heavy blow', took on its current meaning in the 17C; however, even the
editors of the Oxford Engl. Dict. admit to not knowing the origin of
this sense of 'dab': Quote: "It appears before 1700; frequently
referred to as school slang: origin unknown. Conjectures have been
offered as to its being a corruption of 'adept,' and of 'dapper,' but
without any other evidence than appears in the general likeness and use
of the words".
Dam: see Tinker
Dampers: When someone puts the dampers on something they express lack
of enthusiasm; they hinder its progress and are discouraging. The
analogy here is said to be with music, specifically the piano. A damper
is a part of a piano which presses on the strings and cuts out their
sounds. The wider use of the saying is clearly related. I personally
think that there might be another explanation: see Blanket.
Dander: To get your dander up means that you are excitedly angry;
getting into a temper. The phrase may have origins in
Dutch where op donderen means to burst
into a sudden rage. This, in turn, comes from Donder=Thunder.
However, in Britain in the C19 the phrase changed from its original
‘get your dandruff up’ to ‘dander’, indicating the severe head shaking
that may be associated with anger.
Deadline: When you work to a deadline there is a point beyond which the
task must not last otherwise the effort will be worthless. This is
particularly true of newspapers; if not produced on time they are
unsaleable and out of date; dead. The original deadline was a far more
lethal line; if crossed actual death occurred. It existed around the
Andersonville prisoner of war camp in the USA at the time of their
Civil War. It was a white line drawn around the camp; if any prisoner
crossed the line they were shot dead.
Dekko: To have a dekko implies a quick look or glance at something.
There's nothing devious about this phrase; it comes from the Indian
army. In Hindustani Dekho means "look".
Devil: Let the devil take the hindmost may well be said when someone
doesn't care too much about the outcome of his actions, as long as he
comes out well from the affair. The saying comes from late medieval
magic. The Devil was supposed to have a school at either Toledo or
Salamanca in Spain. The students, at a certain stage of their training,
had to run through a subterranean hall. The last one through was seized
by the Devil and became his Imp.
The
devil to pay: this saying has nothing whatsoever to do with "Old Nick"
or handing out money. It is part of a longer saying, the last bit of
which has been nearly forgotten. It goes; "The devil to pay, and no
pitch hot". In this instance the "devil" is the heavy wooden beam used
to support the big guns on sailing ships. It was also known as the
Gunwale and was a very difficult place to get at for maintenance with
the tar (=pitch) needed to regularly seal (=pay) the gaps in the ship's
sides. From this difficulty comes another related saying "between the
devil and the deep blue sea", the devil here again being the wooden
beam.
In March 2006 Alan Jackson offered another suggestion as to why a bit
of the ship was called a 'devil':
'I was always led to believe that it referred to the planking on a
ships deck, because of the shape of the deck of most ships the last
boards to be laid would be at the edges and would therefore be "a
devil" to do, hence the saying.'
Although this is a possibility, personally I prefer the other
suggestion because this brings up a picture of hanging over the sea,
whereas a deck plank doesn't quite do this. Never-the-less, I pass it
on.
"Go to the Devil" is a saying which has more to do with Old
Nick. In this instance The Devil was the name of a 17th century London
pub near the Temple Bar, often frequented by lawyers. The Inn sign was
St Dunstan pulling the Devil's nose and the saying was a deliberate
play on the double meaning of the words. Clients arriving at lawyers'
offices were regularly told Go to the Devil because that happened to be
where the lawyer was at that particular time. However nice this story
seems it probably is not true since the expression dates back at least
to the 12th century. Pity!
Dicey: A dicey object or project is one of dubious character. The
origin, as given on a BBC2 antiques programme in May 1999, is as
follows.
There was once an unscrupulous 19thC map seller who used old, worn map
plates to print new versions of the old maps and pass them off as
genuine old originals. His name was Dicey!
Dickens: There will be the dickens to pay is yet another example of a
saying not being what it seems at first sight. It has nothing to do
with Charles Dickens but comes from a 16th century euphemism for the
Devil. It may be an altered pronunciation of "devilkin" and it was
certainly in use long before Charles was born. Shakespeare's 1601 play
"The Merry Wives of Windsor" contains the words "I cannot tell what the
dickens his name is."
Die: The die is cast is a saying that retains about the only common
example of the correct singular of Dice. Its implication is one of
finality in the course of an event, just as the turn up of dice is set
once they are thrown or cast.
Straight
as a die is used to describe someone who is honest, reliable,
trustworthy. I have found absolutely no derivation for this saying, but
it could come from the same basis as 'die cast', used in the sense of
metal or plastic casting. In Jan 2005 Dave Edwards wrote: "Nice site -
just thinking about 'straight as a die' A die cutter in engineering has
to cut absolutely dead straight otherwise the nut/screw combination
would never work."
Dog: Dog-days; the days in high summer when it is allegedly too hot
even for dogs. Again the true origin is somewhat less obvious. In mid
summer the dog-star Sirius rises with the Sun. The Romans believed that
the star also gave out heat and was thus partly responsible for the
hottest time of the year, hence Dog-days.
The
naval expression dog-watch has a different basis. The dog-watch was the
pair of two hour afternoon shifts put into the normal sequence of four
hourly stints in order to ensure that the same men did not do the same
watch every day. In this way they dodged around or, alternatively, the
shifts were docked.
The
hair of the dog is part of a longer expression "the hair of the dog
that bit you". This goes back to the old belief that the hair of a dog
that bites someone could be used as an antidote against the bad effects
of the bite. By extension, another drink or two after a drinking binge
would be the cure for a hangover.
Top
dog. This is said to relate to cutting logs and not to dog fights.
Sawing logs was often done in a pit with one man in the pit and the
other above, both working the saw. The one above was known as the top
dog and the other as the bottom dog. Working on the top was easier than
down below. However, I guess that the name was actually taken from dog
fights, where the winner came out on top.
