Dictionary of Americanisms, by John Russell Bartlett. (NY: Bartlett and Welford, 1848)
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CORK. The steel points fixed under the shoes of horses, in the winter, to prevent them from falling on the ice. It is the same thing that in Johnson's and other Dictionaries is called frost-nails.--Pickering. In Ash's Dictionary, the word corking is defined, "turning up the heels of a horse's shoes."
CORN. Maize, throughout the United States, is called Indian corn, or simply corn. What is called corn in England,is here called grain; or rather corn is considered in England a general term, and is applied to grain used for bread.
CORN-BLADE. The leaf of the maize. Corn-blades are collected and used as fodder in some of the Southern States.--Webster.
CORN-BROOM. Brooms made from the tops of a species of corn, called broom-corn.
CORN COCKLE. The popular name of a purple-flowering plant (genus agrostemma).--Bigelow 's Flora Bostoniensis.
CORN-CRACKER. The nickname for a native of Kentucky.
CORN-DODGER. A kind of cake made of Indian corn, and baked very hard.
The Sucker State, the country of vast projected rail-roads, good corn-dodgers, splendid banking-houses, and poor currency.--Robb, Squatter Life, p. 28.
CORNED. Drunk. Used in the same sense in England.
CORN-JUICE. Whisky. A western term.
I informed the old fellow that Tom wanted a fight; and as he was too full of corn-juice to cut carefully, I didn't want to take advantage of him.--Robb, Squatter Life.
CORN-STALK. A stalk of corn, particularly the stalk of the maize.--Webster. Mr. Pickering says, "the farmers of New England use this term, and more frequently the simple term stalks, to denote the upper part of the stalks of Indian corn (above the ear), which is cut off while green, and then dried to make fodder for their cattle."--Vocabulary.
CORN-SHUCKING. An occasion on which a farmer invites the young people of the neighborhood to his house or barn, to aid him in stripping the shucks from his corn.--See Husking.
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The young people were all gibberin', and talkin', and laughin', as if they'd been to a corn-shuckin', more'n to a meetin' house.--Major Jones.
TO CORNER. To corner a person, is to get the advantage of him in an argument, as though he were physically placed in a corner from which he could not escape.
TO CORNER. A Wall street word, which means to take advantage of a person in a peculiar manner.
"There is a large class of brokers in Wall street, who sometimes control a good deal of money, and who make speculation their business. These generally unite in squads, for the purpose of cornering--which means, that they first get the control of some particular stock, and then, by making a great many contracts on time, compel the parties to pay whatever difference they choose, or rather what they can get; for they sometimes overrate the purse of those they contract with."--A Week in Wall Street, p. 81.
The remarkable fluctuations in the Stock market, are chiefly the result of a successful cornering operation.--N. Y. Journal of Corn.
The Erie Rail-road cornering has been a very unfortunate affair for many members of the board.--N. Y. Herald.
COSEY. Snug, comfortable. Dr. Jamieson calls it a Scottish word.
Then cannie in some cozie place They close the day.--Burns. To keep you cosie in a hoord, This hunger I with ease endur'd.--Allan Ramsey.
All observers of primitive life, know that animals, quadruped and biped too, have from time immemorial indulged in the cozey habits of burrowing in the earth, huddling close together, &c.--London Athenæum.
Mid comforts abounding, well clothed and well fed, The bright fire surrounding, or cosy in bed.--N. Y. Tribune, 1845.
COSSET. A lamb brought up without the aid of the dam.--Bailey. This word is used in New England in this sense, and also to signify a favorite or darling.
And if thou wilt bewayle my woful teene, I shall give thee yond cosset for thy payne.--Spenser.
TO COTTON TO. 'To cotton to one,' is to take a liking to him; to fancy him; literally to stick to him, as cotton would. The term is very common at the South and West.
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There were divers queer characters on board the steamer, with whom Tom was a great favorite; but none of them cotton'd to him more kindly than an elderly hoosier, from the innermost depths of Indiana.--Field.
COTTONOCRACY. A term applied to the Boston manufacturers, especially by the 'Boston Whig' newspaper.
COUNTERACTION. Mr. Pickering has noticed this word in his Vocabulary, and observes that it is sometimes, though rarely, used by American writers in the following manner: "He prevailed over his enemies by the counteraction (counteracting) of their designs."
No English lexicographer had then noticed the word. The dictionaries of Mr. Todd and Dr. Webster now contain it. The definition of the latter is, "Action in opposition; hindrance."
The beauties of writing are ... wholly subject to the imagination, and do not force their effects upon a mind preoccupied by unfavorable sentiments, nor overcome the counteraction of a false principle or of stubborn partiality.--Johnson, Rambler, No. 93.
All the eloquence and fire of Demosthenes could not rouse the Athenian people to a timely dread or steady counteraction of the formidable plans of Philip.--British Critic, Vol. I. p. 51.
COUNTRIFIED. Rustic, rude. A word of recent formation in our language, and in no dictionary, but now much used.--Todd. It is in the last edition of Webster.
The inhabtants of Herefordshire, though near the metropolis, are as likely to be countrified as persons living at a greater distance from town.--Gose's Local Proverbs.
This man pretty soon espied a countrified looking fellow whom he approached.--Perils of Pearl Street.
Mr. Seymour Bullitt brought the message to Caroline; and such a splendid fellow--but then, old recollections, and such a countrified name.--Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life.
COUNTY. "In speaking of counties," says Mr. Pickering, "the names of which are composed of the word shire, we say the county of Hampshire, the county of Berkshire, &c. In England they would say, either Hampshire or Berkshire simply, without the word county; or, the county of Hants, the county of Berks, &c. The word shire of itself, as every body knows, means county; and in one instance (in Massachusetts), this latter word is used instead of shire, as a part of
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the name--'The county of Duke's County.'"--Pickering's Vocabulary.
COUPON. A financial term, which, together with the practice, is borrowed from France. In the United States, the certificates of State stocks drawing interest are accompanied by coupons, which are small tickets attached to the certificates. At each term when the interest falls due, one of these coupons is cut off (whence the name); and this being presented to the State treasurer, or to a bank designated by him, entitles the holder to receive the interest. The coupons attached to the bonds of some of the Western States have not been cut off for several years.
COURT. In New England this word is applied to a legislative body composed of a House of Representatives and a Senate; as, the General Court of Massachusetts.
COVERCLIP. (Genus achirus. Lacipede.) The popular name of the sole, a fish common in the waters of New York. Calico is another name for it.--Nat. Hist. of New York.
COVERLID. A bed-quilt, counterpane.
Her bed consisted of a mattress of beech-leaves spread on the floor, with tow and wool coverlids.--Margaret, p. 12.
TO COW. To depress with fear.--Webster.
By reason of their frequent revolts, they have drawn upon them the pressure of war so often, that it seems to have somewhat cowed their spirits.--Howell, Vocal Forest.
For when men by their wives are cow'd, Their horns of course are understood.--Hudibras.
The Spaniards ought to defend the Despena Perros; but they go to the plains to be beaten, and thus cow the troops, who would otherwise defend themselves in the mountains.--Wellington's Despatches, No. 346.
They were in a terrible sweat all the time, for fear I'd get cowed, and wouldn't succeed in my oration.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 154.
COWBERRY. (Vaccinium vitis idæa.) A plant resembling the common cranberry, but larger. It is found on certain mountains in Massachusetts.--Bigelow 's Flora Bostoniensis.
COWHIDE. A particular kind of whip made of raw hide; it is also called a raw-hide.
TO COWHIDE. To flog with a cowhide.
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To be out of office and in for a cowhiding, is not a pleasant change from eight dollars a day and all sorts of nice pickings. [Alluding to an ex-member of Congress.]--N. Y. Tribune.
COW-LICK. A twist, or wreathing in the hair, which, in a calf, might be supposed to have been licked by the cow out of its natural position.--Forby's Vocabulary. In some parts of England it is called a calf-lick.
COW PARSNIP. (Heracleuin latanum.) The popular name of a plant classed among the herbs prepared by the 'Shakers,' as containing properties carminative and diuretic.
CRACK. This word is used by us as in England to signify most famous, best. Thus we speak of "a crack ship," "a crack officer," &c.
CRACKED. Crazy.
To such an extent may these discrepancies be carried, that a man of genius is considered cracked;--an expression which led Dr. Parr to say, "that such men were decidedly cracked, but that the crack let in the light."--Millengen, Mind and Matter, 1847.
CRACKER, or FIRE-CRACKER. A little paper cylinder filled with powder or combustible matter, imported from China. It receives its name from the noise it produces in exploding. In England it is called a squib.
CRACKER. A small hard biscuit; probably so called from the noise it emits when broken. The word seems to be peculiar to the United States.
The following anecdote was related to me by the Hon. Albert Gallatin. When travelling in England with his family in 1818, he stopped at an inn and ordered a servant to bring them some "crackers and cheese" for their lunch. But what was his surprise to see the servant return with a plate of cheese and half a dozen nut-crackers!
CRACKER. A nick-name applied to the backwoodsmen of Georgia.
CRACKLINGS. Cinders, the remains of a wood fire. A word used in the Southern States.
When it lightened so, she said t'other eend of the world was afire, and we'd all be burnt to cracklin's before morning.--Maj. Jones's Courtship.
TO CRACK UP. To crack, i. e. to brag or boast, is a verb
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common in old authors, from Chaucer downwards, and still provincial in the north of England. We use it only in the phrase to crack up. Thus we say, "A Yankee is sure to crack up his own country;" "That is not what it is cracked up to be."
CRADLE-SCYTHE. Called also simply cradle. It consists of a common scythe with a light frame-work attached, corresponding in form with the scythe. It is used for cutting grain instead of the sickle; and by the regular manner in which it lays the grain, it enables the farmer to perform treble the work that could be accomplished with the latter implement.
TO CRADLE. 'To cradle grain,' is to cut it in the same manner that grass is cut or mowed, with the implement above described.
The operation of cradling is worth a journey to see. The sickle may be more classical; but it cannot compare in beauty with the swaying, regular motion of the cradle.--Mrs. Clavers's Western Clearings.
CRAMBO. A diversion in which one gives a word, to which another finds a rhyme. If the same word is repeated, a forfeit is demanded. It was also a term in drinking, as appears from Dekker.--Halliwell's Arch and Prov. Dictionary.
This amusement is practised in New York, where it is also called, "What is my thought like?"
CRAMP-BARK. (Viburnum oxycoccus.) The popular name of a medicinal plant; its properties anti-spasmodic. It bears a fruit intensely acid. In New England it is called the tree cranberry.
CRANES-BILL. (Geranium maculatum.) The popular name of a native geranium, which grows about fences and the edges of woods.--Bigelow.
CRASH. A coarse kind of linen cloth used for towels.
Margaret was up early in the morning. She washed at the cistern, and wiped herself on a coarse crash towel.--Margaret, p. 17.
CRAWFISH. (Astacus Bartonii.) The popular name of the fresh-water lobster.
CREATURE. In the plural number this word is in very com-
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mon use among farmers as a general term for horses, oxen, &c. Ex. The creatures will be put into the pasture to-day.--Pickering.
The owners or claimers of any such creatures [i.e. "swine, neat cattle, horses, or sheep"], impounded as aforesaid, shall pay the fees, &c.--Provincial Laws of Mass.--Statute 10, Wm. III.
CREEK. A small river or brook. In New York, the Western States, and in Canada, a small stream is called a creek; in New England it is called a brook. The term is incorrectly applied; as its original signification, according to the dictionaries, is a small port, a bay or cove; from which it has gradually been extended to small rivers. In New England, the old English sense of the word is retained.
CREEPMOUSE. A familiar word in the nursery. Mr. Halliwell calls it a term of endearment still in use in England. He refers to Palgrave's Acolastus, 1540.--Archaic and Prov. Dic.
CREOLE. In the West Indies and Spanish America, a native of those countries descended from European ancestors.--Webster. But this is not its only acceptation.
"The word Creole," says Mrs. Carmichael, "means a native of a West India colony, whether he be black, white, or of the colored population."--West Indies, p. 17.
In the United States, we generally understand a Creole to have a portion of black blood in him; which may be explained by the following extract:
"Children born in the West Indies from Spaniards," says an anonymous author, "are called creollos, which signifies, one born in that country; which word was made by the negroes, for so they call their own children, born in those parts, and thereby distinguish them from those born in Guinea."--History of Peru, p. 397.
CREVASSE. (French, a disruption.) The breaking away of the embankments or levees on the lower Mississippi, by a pressure of the water. See Levee.
CRIMANY. Interj. of sudden surprise.--Forby's Vocabulay. Used in low language in the United States.
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CRISS-CROSS. A mark in the shape of a cross; especially that of those who cannot sign their own names. Mr. Hartshorne, in his interesting work on British Antiquities, has the following account of this custom: "From the earliest period since the introduction of Christianity, it has been customary for those who were unable to sign their names, to affix the mark of a cross instead. Witred, king of Kent, decreed, anno 694, that no deed was valid unless it bore this stamp. It is constantly observable in the charters of the Anglo-Saxon and Spanish kings, and in all those documents which recite property bequeathed for ecclesiastical purposes. Numerous proofs still remain, which testify that royal and noble personages were not ashamed to confess their ignorance of letters. Witred acknowledges, in a charter printed in Spelman's Concilia, p. 193, that on account of his ignorance of letters, he had confirmed what he had dictated by the signature of a cross.--Salopia Antiqua, p. 379.
CRISS-CROSS. A game played on slates by children, at school.
CROCK. (Ang. Sax. crocca.) An earthen vessel, a pot or pitcher, a cup.--Webster.
This old English word is still used in some parts of New England.
Therefore the vulgar did about him flocke, Like foolish flies into an honey crocke.--Spenser, F. Queen, V. 2. 33.
CROCK. The black of a pot; smut, the dust of soot or coal.
This word is provincial in various parts of England, and is there used precisely as in the United States.
At one of our frolics, there was one long-haired fellow, looked as though he'd been among the pets and kettles, and got a great gob of crock on his upper lip.--Lafayette Chron.
TO CROCK. To black with soot or other matter collected from combustion, or to black with the coloring matter of cloth.--Webster.
Provincial in Norfolk and Suffolk, England.
CROCKY. Smutty. Used alike in England and America.
CROOKED AS A VIRGINIA FENCE. A phrase applied to anything very crooked; and figuratively to persons of a stub-
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born temper, who are difficult to manage, that is, to make straight or correct The fences of Virginia are mostly made of rails, laid up in a zig-zag manner, and of course very crooked.
CROSS-EYE. That sort of squint, by which both the eyes turn towards the nose, so that the rays, in passing to the eye, cross each other.--Forby's Vocabulary. Since the newly discovered means of restoring and curing squint or cross eyes by a surgical operation, the scientific name of strabismus has been substituted.
CROSS-FOX. A fox whose color is between the common reddish-yellow and the silver-gray, having on its back a black cross. These animals are rare, and their skins command a high price.
CROSS-GRAINED. Perverse; troublesome; vexatious.--Johnson.
Or what the plague did Juno mean, That cross-grain'd, peevish, scolding queen, That scratching, caterwauling puss, To use an honest fellow thus?--Cotton, Virgil Travestie, B. 1.
CROSS-PATCH. An ill-tempered person. A vulgar word, used alike in England and America. Patch is a very old word of contempt in Shakspeare and other writers. At the present day it is used only in connection with cross.
CROTCHETY. Whimsical; fanciful.
CROTCHICAL. Cross, perverse, peevish. A common colloquial word in New England.
You never see such a crotchical old critter as he is. He flies right off the handle for nothin'.--Sam Slick in England.
CROW-BAR. A bar of iron sharpened at one end, used as a lever. In England it is called a crow; though crow-bar is "a name often provincially applied to an iron crow or lever."--Rees's Cyclopedia.
CROWSFEET. The wrinkles under the eyes, or from the outward corners of the eyes, which are the effect of age, and which are thought to resemble the impression of the feet of crows.--Todd.
So long mote ye liven, and all proud, Till crowes feet growin under your eie, And send you then a mirrour in to prie.--Chaucer, Troil. and Cres.
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And by myne eye the crow his claw doth wright.--Spenser, Shepherd's Cal. Dec.
CRULLER. (Dutch kruller, a curler.) A cake made of a strip of sweetened dough, boiled in lard, the two ends of which are twisted or curled together. The New Yorkers have inherited the name and the thing from the Dutch.
TO CRUNCH, or CRAUNCH. To crush with the teeth; to chew with violence and noise.-Webster. Mr. Hartshorne notices this word among the provincialisms of England, and gives early examples of its use. It is sometimes pronounced cranch.--Skropskire Glossary.
To cranchen ous andal our kynde.--Piers Ploughman.
She can cranch
A sack of small coale! eat you lime and hair.--Ben Jonson.
The flames seized and crunched the gnarled top of an old oak.--Margaret, p. 350.
CRUSTY. Sturdy; morose; snappish. A low word.--Johnson. Provincial in various parts of England. A word, says Dr. Webster, used in families, but not deemed elegant.
Maister Reef, are ye so crusty?--Preston's King Cambyses, O. P. (1562.)
TO CRY. To publish the bans of marriage in church, formerly so called in the interior of New England.
I should not be surprised if they were cried next Sabbath.--Margaret.
CUBBY-HOLE, or CUBBY-HOUSE. A snug place for a child. Common to various English dialects.--Barnes's Dorset Glossary. Seldom heard with us except among children.
TO CUDDLE, or CUDDLE UP. To hug or fondle. So used in some parts of England.
CULTIVABLE. Capable of being tilled or cultivated.-Webster. This word, Mr. Todd says, has lately been adopted by English writers on agriculture.
CUNNUCK. A name applied to Canadians by the people in the Northern States.
CURB-STONE. A border to a pavement, consisting of stone slabs set on edge, which form the separation between it and the carriage-way.
I will sit here as unmoved as a curb-stone.--Margaret, p. 82.
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Here the watchman struck his club against the curb-stone.--Pickings from the Picayune, p. 31.
CURIOUS. "This word is often heard in New England among the common farmers, in the sense of excellent, or peculiarly excellent; as in these expressions: 'These are curious apples;' 'this is curious cider,' &c. This use of the word is hardly known in our seaport town."--Pickering.
CUPALO, for cupola, is a common error of pronunciation. It is also a very old one, as appears from the following passage:
Whose roof of copper shineth so, It excells Saint Peter's cupello.--Political Ballads, 1660.
CURMUDGEON. An avaricious, churlish fellow; a miser. In explaining this word, Dr. Ash made a ludicrous mistake, from his ignorance of the French language. He took the word from Johnson, who derives it from cœur-méchant, and who gives as his authority an "unknown correspondet." As these words immediately followed the French, Dr. Ash supposed them to be the English of cœur-mé chant, and accordingly says, "Curmudgeon, from the French cœur, unknown, and mérchant, correspondent."
A man's way of living is commended, because he will give any rate for it; and a man will give any rate, rather than pass for a poor wretch, or a penurious curmudgeon.--Locke.
TO CURRY FAVOR. To seek or gain favor by flattery, caresses, kindness, or officious civilities.--Webster.
He judged them still over-abjectly to fawn upon the heathens, and to curry favor with infidels.--Hooker.
This humor succeeded so well with the puppy, that an ass would go the same way to work to curry favor for himself.--L'Estrange.
CUSTOMABLE. Subject to the payment of duties called customs. (Law of Massachusetts.)--Webster.
The word dutiable is much used among merchants in New York, but I never heard the word customable.
CUSTOMER. A cant term, meaning one that one has to deal with, that one comes across. In use, it answers nearly to the word "fellow," and is often heard in such phrases as "He's a queer customer," "You'll find him an ugly customer."
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What is any home game, or the wild boar of which British Lloyds write so pleasantly, when compared with such a customer as the buffalo bull?--London Athenæum, No. 195.
CUT. A quantity of yarn, twelve of which make what is called a hank or skein. Common in England and America.
TO CUT. This word is in general use in conversation in the United States, and is employed precisely in the same way as defined by Grose in the following passage:
"To renounce acquaintance with any one, is to cut him. There are several species of the CUT; such as the cut direct, the cut indirect, the cut sublime, the cut infernal, &c. The cut direct is to start across the street, at the approach of the obnoxious person, in order to avoid him. The cut indirect is to look another way, and pass without appearing to observe him. The cut sublime is to admire the top of King's College Chapel, or the beauty of the passing clouds, till he is out of sight. The cut infernal is to analyze the arrangement of your shoe-strings, for the same purpose.--Class. Dict. Vulgar Tongue.
The Bankrupt,
With his debts' schedule large, and no assets,
By all his decent friends entirely cut.--London Bench.
"I'll cut your acquaintance," said Harry to John,
In a furious passion, "if thus you go on!"
"To cut my acquaintance," said John, "you are free,--
Cut them all, if you please, so you do not cut me!"--Mrs. Osgood.
CUT. An infliction; a rebuke.
A thief, arrested at Baltimore and brought to this city in the steamboat Ohio this morning, escaped from the officer, who was lying fast asleep, just as the boat reached the wharf. The unkindest cut of all was, that he walked off with the officer's baggage.--N. Y. Tribune.
TO CUT. To run; to be off.
The whole was borne along upon the shoulders of men who contrived to cut along with their burdens at a great pace.--Eöthen, p. 158.
The wedding over, about twelve o'clock the company began to cut home, all of 'em just as sober as when they came.--Major Jones's Courtship.
Down cut the mesmeric professor, through the bar-room; out I cut after him; over went the stove in the rush after us.--Field, Western Tales.
TO CUT AND RUN. To be off; to be gone.--Holloway's Prov. Dictionary.
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Originally a nautical term. To cut the cable of a ship and make sail without waiting to weigh anchor.--Falconer's Dictionary.
They caught the leaders [in the Canadian revolt] and hanged them; tho' most of the first chop men cut and run, as usual in such cases.--Sam Slick.
TO CUT DIRT. To run; to go fast. A vulgar expression, probably derived from the quick motion of a horse or carriage over a country road, which makes the dirt fly.
Well, the way the cow cut dirt was cautionary; she cleared stumps, ditches, windfalls, and everything.--Sam Slick in England, ch. 18.
Now cut dirt! screamed I; and, Jehu Gineral Jackson! if he didn't make a straight shirt-tail for the door, may I never make another pass.--Field, Western Tales, p. 132.
TO CUT DIDOES. Synonymous with to cut capers, i. e. to be frolicksome.
Who ever heerd them Italian singers recitin' their jabber, showin' their teeth, and cuttin' didoes at a private concert.--S. Slick in England, ch. 15.
Watchman! take that ere feller to the watchhouse; he comes here a cutting up his didoes every night.--Pickings from the Picayune, p. 86.
TO CUT A DASH. In modern colloquial speech, to make a great show; to make a figure.--Johnson. A fashionable or gaily dressed lady in walking the streets is often said to cut a dash. In Scotland, according to Dr. Jamieson, the phrase to cast a dash, to make a great figure or a splendid appearance, is used.
Bowden wi' pride o' simmer gloss,
To cast a dash at Reikie's cross?--Fergusson's Poems, 2. 32.
I saw the curl of his waving lash
And the glance of his knowing eye,
And I knew that he thought he was cutting a dash,
As his steed went thundering by.--O. W. Holmes's Poems, p. 105.
TO CUT A CAPER. (Italian, tagliar le capriole.) The act of dancing in a frolicksome manner.--Todd. We use it also in a more general sense. Thus, of a person who conducts himself in a strange or ridiculous manner, we would say, "He cuts strange capers."
Flimnap, the treasurer, is allowed to cut a caper on the straight rope, at least an inch higher than any other lord in the whole empire.--Gulliver's Travels.
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A man may appear learned, without talking sentences; as in his ordinary gesture he discovers he can dance, though he does not cut capers.--Spectator, No.4.
TO CUT A FIGURE. To make an appearance, either good or bad.
We are not as much surprised at the poor figure cut by the Whigs in the committees of the House, as by the position of some of the Loco Focos.--N. Y. Tribune, Dec. 10, 1845.
TO CUT OUT. To supersede one in the affections of another. A familiar expression in common use: "Miss A was engaged to be married to Mr. B; but Mr. C cut him out." It also means to supplant or excel in any way.
TO CUT OUT OF. To cheat, deprive of.
Having been cut out of my speech in Congress, by the "previous question."--Crockett, Tour, p. 24.
THE CUT OF HIS JIB. The form of his profile, the cast of his countenance; as, "I knew him by the cut of his jib." A nautical vulgarism.
CUT AND COME AGAIN. An expression in vulgar language, implying that having cut as much as you pleased, you may come again; in other words, plenty; no lack; always a supply.--Todd.
TO CUT UP. To criticise with severity; as, he was severely cut up in the newspapers.
Some correspondent asked you, just for a change, to give "a spicy and personal cut up of an author."--N. Y. Literary World, Vol. iii. p. 125.
TO CUT UP. To wound one's feelings, to mortify. Ex. "He was very much cut up by the neglect of his friend."
CUT AND DRIED. Ready made.
I am for John C. Calhoun for the presidency; and will not go for Mr. Van Buren, the man attempted to be forced upon us by this cut-and-dried party machinery.--Mr. Walsh's Speech. Com. Adv. Sept. 1847.
TO CUT UP SHINES. To cut capers, play tricks.
A wild bull of the prairies was cutting up shines at no great distance, tearing up the sod with hoofs and horns.--Knickerbocker Mag.
What have these men been doing? asked the Recorder.
Oh, they were cutting up all kinds of shines; knocking over the ashes barrels, shying stones at lamps, kicking at doors, and disturbing the peace of the whole city.--Pickings from the Picayune, p. 61.
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TO CUT A SWATHE. The same as to cut a dash.
The expression is generally applied to a person walking who is gaily dressed, and has a pompous air or swagger in his or her gait. In allusion to the sweeping motion of a scythe, when cutting a swathe.
TO CUT SHORT. To hinder from proceeding by sudden interruption,--Johnson.
The judge cut off the counsel very short.--Bacon.
Achilles cut him short; and thus replied, My worth, allow'd in words, is in effect denied.--Dryden.
TO CUT STICK, or TO CUT ONE'S STICK. To be off, to leave immediately and go with all speed. A vulgar expression, and often heard. It is also provincial in England.
Dinner is over. It's time for the ladies to cut stick.--Sam Slick in England, ch. 15.
If ever you see her and she begins that way, up hat and cut stick, double quick.--Ibid. ch. 29.
TO CUT UNDER. To undersell in price.--New York.
CUT-OFF. Passages cut by the great Western rivers, particularly the Mississippi, affording new channels, and thus forming islands. These cut-offs are constantly made.
When the Mississippi, in making its cut-offs, is ploughing its way through the virgin soil, there float upon the top of this destroying tide, thousands of trees that covered the land and lined its curving banks.--Thorpe's Backwoods, p.172.
TO DRAW CUTS. A common way of deciding by lot, is to place several slips of paper or straws, of different length, in a person's hand, which are drawn out by others. This is called drawing cuts. The practice and the term are very old, as will be seen by the following examples:
And ther they were at a long stryf which of them shulde go; and so at last they acorded and sware, and made promyse before all the company, that they shulde drawe cuttes, and he that shulde have the longest strawe shulde go forthe, and the other abyde.--Lord Berners, Froissart Cronycle, Vol. I. p. 288.
My lady Zelmane, and my daughter Mopsa may draw cuts, and the shortest cut speak first.--Sidney.
CUT-GRASS. (Leersia oryzoides.) The common name of a
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species of grass, with leaves exceedingly rough backward, so as to cut the hands if drawn across them.--Bigelow's Flora Bosioniensis.
CUTE. (An abbreviation of acute.) Sharp; cunning; acute. It is provincial in various parts of England. In New England it is a common colloquialism, though never used by educated people.
Now, says I, I'm goin' to show you about as cute a thing as you've seen in many a day.--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 214.
Mr. Marcy was a right cute, cunning sort of a man; but in that correspondence Gen. Taylor showed himself able to defend himself against the fire in the rear,--Mr. Gentry's Remarks at the Taylor Meeting in N. Y.
He had a pair of bright twinkling eyes, that gave an air of extreme cuteness to his physiognomy.--Knickerbocker Mag. Aug. 1845.
CUTTER. A one horse sleigh.
And then--we'll go sleighing, in warm raiment clad, With fine horses neighing as if they were glad. The shining bells jingle, the swift cutter flies, And if our ears tingle, no matter; who cries?--N. Y. Tribune.
CUTTOES. (French couteau, a knife.) A large knife used in olden times in New England.
There were no knives and forks, and the family helped themselves on wooden plates, with cuttoes.--Margaret, p. 10.
CYPRESS-BRAKE. A basin-shaped depression of land near the margin of
shallow, sluggish bayous, into which the superabundant waters find their
way. In these places are vast accumulations of fallen cypress-trees, which
have been accumulating for ages. These are called
cypress-brakes.--Dickeson
on the Cypress Timber of Louisiana.
D.
DAB, or DABSTER. One who is expert in anything; a proficient. A vulgar colloquialism in England and America.
One writer excels at a plan, or title-page; another works away at the body of the book; and the third is a dab at an index.--Goldsmith.
He's sich a dabster at a plough, Few match'd him nigh or far.--Essex Dialect Poems.
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DADDOCKS. The heart or body of a tree thoroughly rotten.--Ash.
This old word is not noticed by Johnson, Todd, or Webster. It is introduced by Mr. Worcester in his new dictionary.
The great red daddocks lay in the green pastures, where they had lain year after year, crumbling away, and sending forth innumerable forms of vegetable life.--Margaret, p. 215.
DAD, or DADDY. Old and very common words for father.
I was never so bethumpt with words Since first I call'd my brother's father dad.--Shakspeare.
DAMAGE. The pay or return for service rendered; the cost of any thing. "What's the damage?" i. e. What's the cost?
Many thanks, but I must pay the damage, and will thank you to tell me the amount of the engraving.--Lord Byron to Murray, Let. 114.
DANDER. Scurf; dandruff.
DANDER. To get one's dander up, is to get into a passion.
This word is noticed in Barnes's Dorset Glossary. Halliwell says it is common in various English dialects.
The Department of State did not keep back the letters of Mr. Rives, in which he boasts that he had outwitted the French. Well, this sort of put up the dander of the French.--Crockett, Tour, p. 198.
As we looked at the immense strength of the Northumberland's mast, we could not help thinking that Neptune must have his dander considerably raised before he could carry it away.--N. Y. Com. Adv.
I felt my dander risin' when the impertinent cuss went and tuck a seat along side of Miss Mary, and she begun to smile and talk with him as pleasin' as could be.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 77.
The fire and fury that blazed in her eye gave ocular evidence of her dander being up.--Pickings from the New Orleans Picayune, p. 163.
DARKY. A common term for a negro.
DARNED. A substitute for the profane word damned, and generally called a Yankeeism. It is used, however, in England.
If e'er their jars they've made yu feel, This gude adwise you'll call; For sich warmin's gripe--or I'll be darned 'Twood soon make ye sing small.--Essex Dialect, Noakes and Styles.
"Buttermilk, by Jingo," exclaimed the disappointed pedagogue. Saint Jingo was the only saint, and a "darnation," or "darn you," were the only
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TO DAWDLE. To loiter, to lounge, especially over one's work. A word much used by women.
Come, some evening, and dawdle over a dish of tea with me.--Johnson's Letters.
Looking out of the window, I can see a dozen of these industrious burghers, dawdling about a bar-room opposite.--Hoffman, Winter in the West, Let. 35.\
A DAWDLE. In women's language, one who loiters over his or her work.
TO DEACON A CALF, is to knock it in the head as soon as it is born.--Connecticut.
DEADENING. In newly settled parts of the West, where it is designed to make a "clearing," some of the trees are cut down; the others are girdled, or deadened, as they say. If the majority of trees are thus girdled, the field is called a deadening, otherwise it is a clearing.--Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol I. p.240.
DEAD. This word is vulgarly used in the sense of utter, complete. Ex. "A dead beat," i. e. a complete beating; "a dead shave, or a dead suck," i. e. an utter swindle; "dead ripe," fully ripe.
DEAD-ALIVE. Dull, inactive, moping.--Barnes's Dorset Glossary. We often hear the expression, "He is a dead-alive sort of a man."
DEAD AS A DOOR NAIL. Utterly, completely dead. The figure is that of a nail driven into wood, and, therefore, perfectly immovable; the word door is used for the sake of the alliteration. It is sometimes changed with us into the less appropriate phrase, "As dead as a hammer."
For James, the gentil, suggeth in his bokes, That faith without fact ys febelere than nouht, And dead as a door nayle.--Piers Ploughman, p. 22.
If I do not leave you all as dead as a door nail, I pray God I may never eat grass more.--Shakspeare, Henry VI. p. 2.
DEAR ME, or DEARY ME. An exclamation of surprise, used in the same sense as "Oh dear!"
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DEATH. To be death for, or go one's death for a thing, is to be in favor of it or pursue it to the last extremity.
I'm death for the 'Mug,' Mr. Bloater.--Mathews, Puffer Hopkins.
DECEDENT. A deceased person.--Laws of Pennsylvania.
DECENT. Tolerable; middling; fair.
DECENTLY. Tolerably; fairly.
The greater part of the pieces it contains may be said to be very decently written.--Edinburgh Review, Vol. I. p. 426.
DECLENSION. "We sometimes see this word used in the newspapers, in speaking of a person's declining to be a candidate for office. Ex. In consequence of a declension of our candidate, we shall be obliged to vote for a new one.["]--Pickering.
TO DEED. To convey or transfer by deed. A popular use of the word in America; as, he deeded all his estate to his eldest son.--Webster.
TO A DEGREE. To a great extent. An expression common in all parts of the country.
We learn that the situation of the inhabitants was distressing to a degree.--Charleston, S. C. Gaz. Aug. 10, 1813.
DEL. The common abbreviation for Delaware.
DEMIJOHN. A glass vessel or bottle, with a large body and small neck, protected and strengthened by a covering of wicker-work. Mr. Webster derives it from the French dame-jeanne, but gives no further explanation. I met the word in Niebuhr's Travels in Arabia:
But we imprudently put our wine into great flasks, called in the East damasjanes, and large enough each of them to contain twenty ordinary bottles.--Vol. I. p. 169.
This induced the belief that the word was Arabic; but, on referring to the Arabic dictionary, no such word could be found. I made inquiry of several philologists, none of whom could give its origin. One day I asked a Frenchman who dealt in wines, why the French called them dame-jeannes? He replied at once, that they were invented in France at a time when large hoop-dresses were worn at court, and froni the resemblance of those large bottles to the small waists and
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full dresses of the ladies, they were called dame-jeannes, i. e. Lady Janes.
DEMORALIZATION. The act of subverting or corrupting morals; destruction of moral principles.--Webster. A word of modern origin, but of very extensive use, which, says Mr. D'Israeli, "was the invention of horrid Gapuchin Chabot."
Demoralization is a long, hard word, which has lately been a good deal intruded upon us, as expressive of the change that has taken place lately, not only in the actual morals or manners of the lower orders of people, but in their feelings.--Arch. Nares, Heraldic Anomalies, p. 218.
The cause [of the crimes of the Creoles] is to be found in the existence of Slavery; and the inevitable demoralization which this accursed practice produces, is not checked by any system of religious instruction.--London Quarterly Rev. Nov. 1810.
TO DEMORALIZE. To corrupt and undermine the morals of; to destroy or lessen the effect of moral principles on.--Webster. Like the preceding, this word has a place in Todd's Johnson, where it is noticed as a word of late introduction into our language. Professor Lyell, who visited Dr. Webster, says, "When the Dr. was asked how many words he had coined for his dictionary, he replied, only one, 'to demoralize,' and that not for his dictionary, but in a pamphlet published in the last century."--Travels in the U. States, p. 53. Mr. Jodrell, in his "Philology of the English Language," gives the word a place, and cites as an example, a passage from a speech by Lord Liverpool, in the House of Lords, March 11, 1817:
They had endeavored to guard and protect the people against the attempts which were made to corrupt and demoralize them.
The native vigor of the soul must wholly disappear, under the steady influence and the demoralizing example of profligate power and prosperous crime.--Walsh, Letters on France.
DEPARTMENTAL. Pertaining to a department, or division.--Webster.
The game played by the revolutionists in 1789 was now played against the departmental guards, called together for the protection of revolutionists.--Burke, Pref. to Brissot's Address.
Which it required all the exertion of the departmental force to suppress.--H. M. Williams, Letters on France.
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TO DEPUTIZE. To depute; to appoint a deputy; to empower to act for another, as a sheriff.--Webster.
This word is not in any of the English dictionaries except one of the early editions of Bailey, where it appears in the preface among words in modern authors, collected after the dictionary was printed. Mr. Pickering remarks, that "the word is sometimes heard in conversation, but rarely occurs in writing, ... and that it has always been considered as a mere vulgarism." Since the publication of Mr. P.'s Vocabulary, this word has been adopted in general use, and cannot now by any means be considered a vulgarism.
They seldom think it necessary to deputize more than one person to attend to their interests at the seat of government.--Port Folio, Jan. 1811.
TO DERANGE. To turn out of the proper place; to disorder, to put out of order.--Todd's Johnson. Webster.
"About twenty years ago," says Mr. Todd, "this word was condemend [sic] as a Gallicism." The following are among the earliest instances of its use:
That Robespierre might fall without deranging the general system.--British Critic, Vol. 5. p. 77.
The republic of regicides has actually conquered the finest parts of Europe; has distressed, disunited, deranged, and broke to pieces all the rest.--Burke on a Regicide Peace.
DESK. The pulpit in a church, and figuratively, the clerical profession. The man appears well at the desk. He intends one son for the bar, and another for the desk.--Pickering. This New England word is not generally used in other parts of the country.
The pulpit, or as it is here [in Connecticut] called, the desk, was filled by three if not four clergymen; a number which, by its form and dimensions, it was able to accommodate.--Kendall's Travels, Vol. I. p.4.
They are common to every species of oratory, though of rarer use in the desk, &c.--Adams's Lecture on Rhetoric.
DESPERATE, commonly pronounced desput, and used to denote exceedingly; as "I'm desput glad to see you." Bad as this use and pronunciation of this word are, they are both to be found in England. Mr. Hamilton notices this word among the provincialisms of Yorkshire; as, "Thou's desperate hopeful!"-Nugæ Literariæ, p. 353.
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Waes me! what's this that lugs sae at my heart, And fills my breast with such a despert smart?--Poems in Westmoreland and Cumberland Dialect, p. 117.
DEUCE. A euphemism for devil; as, 'The deuce is in it;' 'Deuce take it.' Common both in England and America.
DEVIL. A kind of expletive, expressing wonder or vexation; a ludicrous negative, in an adverbial sense; a term for mischief.--Johnson. In these several senses the word is used in the United States.
The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare; But wonder how the devil they got there?--Pope.
The devil was well, the devil a monk was he!--A Proverb.
A war of profit mitigates the evil; But to be tax'd and beaten, is the devil.--Granville.
It is also, says Johnson, a ludicrous expletive of elder times, coupled with all; implying. after an enumeration of some things, several understood. Bale was very fond of applying it, in his zeal against popery. It is yet absurdly retained in low language.
Baptysed bells, bodes, organs, songs, wax-lyghts, pycteres, reliques, banners, crosses, altars, holye-water, and the devyl and all of soche idolatrouse beggary.--Bale, Yet a Course at the Romishe Foxe (1543).
DEVILISH. Atrocious, enormous; excessively, exceedingly. Of the latter or adverbial use of the word Grose says, "It is an epithet, which, in the English vulgar language, is made to agree with every quality or thing; as, devilish bad, devilish good; devilish sick, devilish well; devilish sweet, devilish sour; devilish hot, devilish cold, &c."--Slang Dictionary.
A devilish knave! besides, the knave is handsome, young, and blithe; all those requisites are in him that delight.--Shakspeare.
Thy hair and beard are of a different die, Short of one foot, distorted of one eye; With all these tokens of a knave complete. If thou art honest, thou'rt a devilish cheat.--Addison.
DEVIL'S DARNING NEEDLE. A common name for the Dragon-fly.
DEVIL-FISH. (Genus, Sophius. Cuvier.) The common name of the American Angler, so called from its hideous form. It is also known by the names of Sea-devil, Fishing-frog,
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Bellows-fish, Goose-fish, Monk-fish, and others.--Storer's Fishes of Mass.
DEVILTRY. Mischief; devilry. Provincial in England.
The office-holding gentry at Washington will meet with their match in an indignant people, when they come to find out their deviltry.--Crockett's Speech, Tour, p. 106.
Peter Funk is ready to be employed in all manner of deceit and deviltry. He cares not who his employers are.--Perils of Pearl Street, p. 51.
DICKENS. A euphemism for devil; used in the same manner as deuce. 'What the dickens are you about?'
Whence had you this pretty weather-cock? --I cannot tell what the dickens his name is my husband had him of. --Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor.
TO DICKER. To barter. Used in the State of New York.
DICK'S HATBAND. This very singular expression I have often heard in Rhode Island. Mr. Hartshorne calls it "one of those phrases which set philologists and antiquarians at defiance." It is in general use throughout Shropshire, where it is applied as a comparison for what is obstinate and perverse. Ex. "As curst as Dick's hatband, which will come nineteen times round and wont tie at last;" "As contrary as Dick's hatband;" "As false as Dick's hatband;" "As cruikit as Dick's hatband;" "As twisted as Dick's hatband;" "All across, like Dick's hatband;" "As queer as Dick's hatband."
DIFFICULTED. Perplexed. This is not a common word. Mr. Sherwood has it among the words peculiar to Georgia, and there are examples of its use to be found in some of our well-known authors. It is in common use at the Bar: 'The gentleman, I think, will be difficulted to find a parallel case.'
There is no break in the chain of vital operation; and consequently we are not difficulted at all on the score of the relation which the new plant bears to the old.--Bush on the Resurrection, p. 57.
Dr. Jamieson has the verb to difficult in his Scottish Dictionary.
DIGGING. Dear or costly; as, 'a mighty digging price.' A Southern word.--Sherwood's Georgia.
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DIG. A poke, punch; and metaphorically, a reproof.
A sly dig like the above in "The Sun" [newspaper] is worth having any day, when it is a dig on the right side.--N. Y. Tribune.
DIGGINGS. A word first used at the Western lead mines, to denote places where the ore was dug. Instead of saying this or that mine, it is these diggings, or those diggings. The phrase these diggings is now provincial in the Western States, and is occasionally heard in the Eastern, to denote a neighborhood, or particular section of country.
Mr. Charles F. Hoffman visited the Galena lead mines, and while there was shown about to the various estates, where the people were digging for ore. The person who accompanied him said:
Mr.----, from your State, has lately struck a lead, and a few years will make him independent. We are now, you observe, among his diggings.--Winter in the West, Let. 25.
Boys, fellars, and candidates, I am the first white man ever seed in these diggins. I killed the first bar [bear] ever a white skinned in the county, and am the first manufacturer of whisky, and a powerful mixture it is too.--Robb, Squatter Life.
He can shoot the closest of any chap, young or old, in these 'are diggins.--Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 155.
I ain't a vain man, and never was. I hante a morsel of it in my composition. I don't think any of us Yankees is vain people; it's a thing don't grow in our diggins.--Sam Slick in England, ch. 24.
Guess they don't often see such an apostle in these diggins.--Ibid.
TO DILL. (Probably the same as to dull.) To soothe. The word is used in the north of England.
I know what is in this medicine. It'll dill fevers, dry up sores, stop rheumatis, drive out rattle-snake's bite, kill worms, &c.--Margaret, p. 140.
TO DILLY-DALLY. To delay. A colloquial expression common in the United States.
The note this verra morning shall be writ, And gien on Sunday to the parish clerk; There ne'er comes luck of dilly-dallying work.--Glossary and Poems.
DIME. (Fr. dixme or dime, tenth.) A silver coin of the United States, in value the tenth of a dollar, or ten cents.
This term, peculiar to our decimal currency, is now in common use at the South and West; but in the Eastern and
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Northern States, where the Spanish real and half-real have long formed a large portion of the circulation, and where the dime is only now beginning to be common, it is usually called a ten-cent piece, and the half-dime a five-cent piece.
Small articles are sold in the New Orleans markets by the picayune or dime's worth. If you ask for a pound of figs you will not be understood; but for a dime's worth, and they are in your hands in a trice.--Sketches of New Orleans. N. Y. Tribune.
TO DING. To beat, to bang. Used metaphorically to denote tedious repetition; as, 'Why do you keep dinging that in my ears?'
DING. Excessively. A Southern word.
It was ding hot; so I sot down to rest a bit under the trees.--Chron. of Pineville.
DINGED. Very. An expletive, peculiar to the South.
You know it's a dinged long ride from Pineville, and it took me most tw days to get there.--Maj. Jones's Courtship.
TO DISH. To ruin; to frustrate.
She's dished us, too, said the officer. How shall we find out where she's gone to?--Maj. Downing.
TO DIP SNUFF. A mode of taking tobacco, practised by women in some parts of the United States, and particularly at the South, may be thus described: A little pine stick or bit of rattan about three inches long, split up like a brush at one end, is first wetted and then dipped into snuff; with this the teeth are rubbed sometimes by the hour together. Some tie the snuff in a little bag, and chew it. These filthy practices, which originate in the use of snuff for cleansing the teeth, seem to be rapidly going out of use, at least at the North.
DIPPER. A small aquatic bird common throughout the United States; also called the Water-witch and Hell-diver. (Horned grebe. Nuttall, Ornith.)--Nat. Hist. of New York.
TO DISREMEMBER. To forget; also, to choose to forget. Used chiefly in the Southern States.
DOCITY. A low word, used in some parts of the United States to signify quick comprehension. It is only used in conversation, and generally with a negative, thus: He has no docity.--
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Pickering. This word is provincial in England, where it means docility, quick comprehension.--Ash.
DOCTOR. The cook on board a ship; so called by seamen.
DOGS. To go to the dogs. To go to destruction; to be ruined, destroyed, or devoured.--Johnson.
Had whole Culpepper's wealth been hops and hogs, Could he himself have sent it to the dogs?--Pope.
TO DOG. To hunt as a dog, insidiously and indefatigably.--Johnson.
I have been pursued, dogged, and way-laid through several nations, and even now scarce think myself secure.--Pope.
The landlord gets his rents by looking after 'em; he fairly dogs it out of his tenant. He's as keen as a blood-hound, and will follow them day and night till he gets it.--Maj. Downing, May-day in N. Y.
DOG'S BANE. (Apocynum androsæmifolium.) The common name of a shrub, which grows along the road-side and borders of woods. The root is bitter, and has emetic properties.--Bigelow's Medical Botany.
DOG SICK, or SICK AS A DOG. A common expression, meaning very sick at the stomach.
He that saieth he is dog sick, or sick as a dog, meaneth doubtless, a sick dog.--Dyet's Dry Dinner (1599).
DOG CHEAP. Anything exceedingly cheap; or, as Dr. Johnson says, as cheap as dog's meat.
Good store of harlots, say you, and dog cheap?--Dryden.
I bought fifty green sprigs of the morus multicaulis at a dollar a-piece, which was dog cheap to what they had been selling.--Knickerbocker Mag.
DOGWOOD. (Rhus vernix.) The popular name of the poison sumac. It grows in swamps, and from the beauty of its leaves has the appearance of a tropical plant. It is a violent poison to many when it is handled or even approached. To others it is harmless. The Dogwood-tree (Cornus Florida) is a different plant, and is used in medicine.--Bigelow's Flora.
DOLLAR MARK ($). The origin of this sign to represent the dollar has been the cause of much discussion of late in the newspapers. One writer says it comes from the letters U. S. (United States) which, after the adoption of the Federal Constitution, were prefixed to the Federal currency, and which
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afterwards, in the hurry of writing, were run into one another; the U being made first and the S over it. Another, that it is derived from the contraction of the Spanish word pesos, dollars, or pesos fuertes, hard dollars. A third, that it is a contraction of the Spanish fuertes, hard, to distinguish silver or hard dollars from paper money. The more probable explanation is, that it is a modification of the figure 8, and denotes a piece of eight reals, or, as a dollar was formerly called, a piece of eight. It was then designated by the figures 8/8.
As to my boat, it was a very good one; and that he saw, and told me he would buy it of me for the ship's use; and asked me what I would have for it? I told him that I could not offer to make any price of the boat, but left it entirely to him; upon which be told me he would give me a note of hand to pay me eighty pieces of eight for it in Brazil. He offered me also sixty pieces of eight more for my boy Xury, which I was loath to take; not that I was not willing to let the Captain have him, but I was loath to sell the poor boy's liberty, who had assisted me so faithfully in procuring my own.--Robinson Crusoe, sec. 4.
DONATE. To give as a donation; to contribute. This word is not in the dictionaries, but has only reached the newspapers and reviews.
There have been received from the Foreign Bible Society $7000, not including $1000 recently donated.--Baptist Missionary Herald. Rep. 1846.
The display of articles exhibited [at the Fair in Albany] was very tasteful and attractive; and the friends of the cause in Massachusetts, and other places, donated liberally.--N. Y. Tribune, Nov. 6, 1846.
DONATION PARTY. A party, consisting of the friends and parishioners of a country clergyman, assembled together, each individual bringing some article of food or clothing as a present to him. Where the salary of a clergyman is small, the contributions at a donation party are very acceptable. It is also called a giving party.
DONE, instead of did; as, 'They done the business.' A common vulgarism in the State of New York.
DONE BROWN. Thoroughly, effectually cheated, bamboozled. Of recent origin.
DO DON'T, for do not or don't, is a common expression in Georgia, and not by any means confined to the uneducated classes.
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DONE FOR. Cheated; taken advantage of.
Wall street, it appears, is infested with mock-auction shops,--a country-man was done for at No. 15, to the tune of twenty-four dollars.--New York Tribune, Nov. 1, 1845.
DONE DID IT, for has done it, or performed it.--Sherwood's Georgia.
DONE COME. Come. A vulgarism peculiar to the South.
DONE GONE. Ruined; destroyed; rendered useless; entirely gone. A Southern vulgarism.
The horse and cart is done gone, and everything in it.--Chron. of Pineville, p. 107.
Oh! she waked me in the mornin', and it's broad day;
I look'd for my canoe, and it's done gone away.--Porter's Tales of the Southwest, p. 133.
DONE UP. Ruined by gaming and extravagance.--Grose. We use it colloquially, where a person is ruined in any way, whether by gaming or by trade.
DON'T. The proper colloquial contraction for do not; and which should therefore be used only in the first person singular and the plural. Yet we very often hear it used instead of doesn't for does not; as, 'He don't tell the truth.'
I DON'T KNOW AS I SHAN'T, for I don't know but I shall. This uncouth expression, Mr. Hurd says, is very common in the eastern towns of Massachusetts, near Cape Cod.--Grammatical Corrector.
DOREE. A fish commonly called John Dory with us as in England. This last name is a corruption of the French jaune dorée, golden yellow, which is the color of this fish.
DO TELL! A vulgar exclamation common tn New England, and synonymous with really! indeed! is it possible!
A bright-eyed little demoiselle from Virginia came running into the dairy of a country house in New Hampshire, at which her mother was spending the summer, with a long story about a most beautiful butterfly site had been chasing; and the dairy maid, after hearing the story through, exclaimed, "Do tell!" The child immediately repeated the story, and the good-natured maid, after hearing it through a second time, exclaimed again, in a tone of still greater wonder, "Do tell!" A third time the story was told, and the third time came the exclamation of wonder, "Do tell!" The child's spirits were dashed, and she went to her mother with a sad tale
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DOMESTICS. Used only in the plural. Cotton goods of American manufacture.
TO DOOM. To tax at discretion. A New England term.
When a person neglects to make a return of his taxable property to the assessors of a town, those officers doom him; that is, judge upon, and fix his tax according to their discretion.--Pickering.
The estates of all merchants, shop-keepers, and factors, shall be assessed by the rule of common estimation, according to the will and doom of the assessors.--Massachusetts Colony Laws, p. 14, ed. 1660.
DOOMAGE. A penalty or fine for neglect. Laws of New Hampshire.--Webster.
DORMAR-WINDOW. A window made in the roof of a house.--Worster. The word seems formerly to have been dormant, as in the following:
Old dormant windows must confess Her beams; their glimnering spectacles, &c.--Cleveland.
Here and there was a house with gambled roof and dormer windows.--Margaret, p. 33.
DOUCHE. A term lately introduced into the language from the French by the followers of Priessnitz. It technically denotes a jet of water employed as a remedy.
DOUGH-FACES. A contemptuous nickname, applied to the northern favorers and abettors of negro slavery.
The Wilmot proviso was lost, and the dough-faces of New York did the deed.--N. Y. Express, March, 1841.
There is one very probable result, to wit: that there will be "dough-faces" enough among the Northern Democrats to sustain the policy of extending the area of African slavery to the shores of the Pacific.--N. Y. Com. Adv. Jan. 8, 1848.
The truth is, that while the Southerners need and are willing to pay for the services of the dough-faces, they dislike their persons and despise their discourse--N. Y. Tribune, April, 1848.
DOUGH-NUT. A small roundish cake, made of flour, eggs, and sugar, moistened with milk, and boiled in lard.--Webster. Halliwell has donnut in his Provincial Dictionary, which is no doubt the same word.