Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter D - Page 1
D () The fourth letter of the English alphabet, and a vocal consonant. The English letter is from Latin, which is from Greek, which took it from Ph[oe]nician, the probable ultimate origin being Egyptian. It is related most nearly to t and th; as, Eng. deep, G. tief; Eng. daughter, G. tochter, Gr. qyga`thr, Skr. duhitr. See Guide to Pronunciation, [root]178, 179, 229.
D () (Mus.) The nominal of the second tone in the model major scale (that in C), or of the fourth tone in the relative minor scale of C (that in A minor), or of the key tone in the relative minor of F.
D () As a numeral D stands for 500. in this use it is not the initial of any word, or even strictly a letter, but one half of the sign ? (or ? ) the original Tuscan numeral for 1000.
D (a.) Denoting a quantity consisting of 500 items or units [syn: five hundred, 500, d].
D (n.) A fat-soluble vitamin that prevents rickets [syn: vitamin D, calciferol, viosterol, ergocalciferol, cholecalciferol, D].
D (n.) The cardinal number that is the product of one hundred and five [syn: five hundred, 500, D].
D (n.) The 4th letter of the Roman alphabet [syn: D, d].
D, () "The Data Language." MS-DOS 4GL.
D, () A Haskell-like language, with type classes.
Dab (n.) 【英】【口】內行，能手 [C] [（+at）] A skillful hand; a dabster; an expert. [Colloq.]
One excels at a plan or the titlepage, another works away at the body of the book, and the third is a dab at an index. -- Goldsmith. Dab
Dab (n.) 【魚】比目魚；孫鰈 [C] A name given to several species of flounders, esp. to the European species, Pleuronectes limanda. The American rough dab is Hippoglossoides platessoides.
Dabbed (imp. & p. p.) of Dab.
Dabbing (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Dab.
Dab (v. i.) 輕拍，輕觸 [（+at）]；輕搽，輕塗 [（+at）] To strike or touch gently, as with a soft or moist substance; to tap; hence, to besmear with a dabber.
A sore should . . . be wiped . . . only by dabbing it over with fine lint. -- S. Sharp.
Dab (v. i.) To strike by a thrust; to hit with a sudden blow or thrust. "To dab him in the neck." -- Sir T. More.
Dab (n.) [C] 輕拍；輕塗 [（+at）]；小塊；一點點 [（+of）] A gentle blow with the hand or some soft substance; a sudden blow or hit; a peck.
A scratch of her claw, a dab of her beak. -- Hawthorne.
Dab (n.) A small mass of anything soft or moist.
Dab (n.) A light touch or stroke [syn: tap, pat, dab].
Dab (n.) A small quantity of something moist or liquid; "a dab of paint"; "a splatter of mud"; "just a splash of whiskey" [syn: dab, splash, splatter].
Dab (v.) Apply (usually a liquid) to a surface; "dab the wall with paint" [syn: dab, swab, swob].
Dab (v.) Hit lightly; "pat him on the shoulder" [syn: dab, pat].
DAB, () Digital Audio Broadcasting
Dabb (n.) (Zool.) A large, spine-tailed lizard ({Uromastix spinipes), found in Egypt, Arabia, and Palestine; -- called also dhobb, and dhabb.
Dabber (n.) That with which one dabs; hence, a pad or other device used by printers, engravers, etc., as for dabbing type or engraved plates with ink.
Dabbled (imp. & p. p.) of Dabble.
Dabbling (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Dabble.
Dabble (v. t.) To wet by little dips or strokes; to spatter; to sprinkle; to moisten; to wet. "Bright hair dabbled in blood." -- Shak.
Dabble (v. i.) To play in water, as with the hands; to paddle or splash in mud or water.
Where the duck dabbles 'mid the rustling sedge. -- Wordsworth.
Dabble (v. i.) To work in slight or superficial manner; to do in a small way; to tamper; to meddle. "Dabbling here and there with the text." -- Atterbury.
During the first year at Dumfries, Burns for the first time began to dabble in politics. -- J. C. Shairp.
Dabble (v.) Dip a foot or hand briefly into a liquid.
Dabble (v.) Play in or as if in water, as of small children [syn: dabble, paddle, splash around].
Dabble (v.) Work with in an amateurish manner; "She dabbles in astronomy"; "He plays around with investments but he never makes any money" [syn: dabble, smatter, play around].
Dabble (v.) Bob forward and under so as to feed off the bottom of a body of water; "dabbling ducks."
Dabbler (n.) One who dabbles.
Dabbler (n.) One who dips slightly into anything; a superficial meddler. "our dabblers in politics." --Swift.
Dabbler (n.) An amateur who engages in an activity without serious intentions and who pretends to have knowledge [syn: dabbler, dilettante, sciolist].
Dabbler (n.) Any of numerous shallow-water ducks that feed by upending and dabbling [syn: dabbling duck, dabbler] [ant: diving duck].
Dabblingly (adv.) In a dabbling manner.
Compare: Gallinule
Gallinule (n.) (Zool.) One of several wading birds, having long, webless toes, and a frontal shield, belonging to the family Rallidae. They are remarkable for running rapidly over marshes and on floating plants. The purple gallinule of America is Ionornis Martinica, that of the Old World is Porphyrio porphyrio. The common European gallinule ({Gallinula chloropus) is also called moor hen, water hen, water rail, moor coot, night bird, and erroneously dabchick. Closely related to it is the Florida gallinule ({Gallinula galeata).
Note: The purple gallinule of Southern Europe and Asia was formerly believed to be able to detect and report adultery, and for that reason, chiefly, it was commonly domesticated by the ancients.
Dabchick (n.) (Zool.) A small water bird ({Podilymbus podiceps), allied to the grebes, remarkable for its quickness in diving; -- called also dapchick, dobchick, dipchick, didapper, dobber, devil-diver, hell-diver, and pied-billed grebe.
Dabchick (n.) Small European grebe [syn: dabchick, little grebe, Podiceps ruficollis].
Daboia (n.) A large and highly venomous Asiatic viper (Daboia xanthica).
Dabster (n.) One who is skilled; a master of his business; a proficient; an adept.
Dacapo () From the beginning; a direction to return to, and end with, the first strain; -- indicated by the letters D. C. Also, the strain so repeated.
Dace (n.) A small European cyprinoid fish (Squalius leuciscus or Leuciscus vulgaris); -- called also dare.
Dachshund (n.) One of a breed of small dogs with short crooked legs, and long body; -- called also badger dog. There are two kinds, the rough-haired and the smooth-haired.
Dacian (a.) Of or pertaining to Dacia or the Dacians.
Dacian (n.) A native of ancient Dacia.
Dacoit (n.) One of a class of robbers, in India, who act in gangs.
Dacoity (n.) The practice of gang robbery in India; robbery committed by dacoits.
Dacotahs (n. pl.) Same as Dacotas.
Dactyl (n.) (Pros.) A poetical foot of three sylables (--- [crescent] [crescent]), one long followed by two short, or one accented followed by two unaccented; as, L. t["e]gm[i^]n[e^], E. mer[bprime]ciful; -- so called from the similarity of its arrangement to that of the joints of a finger. [Written also dactyle.]
Dactyl (n.) (Zool.) A finger or toe; a digit.
Dactyl (n.) (Zool.) The claw or terminal joint of a leg of an insect or crustacean.
Dactyl (n.) A metrical unit with stressed-unstressed-unstressed syllables.
Dactyl (n.) A finger or toe in human beings or corresponding body part in other vertebrates [syn: digit, dactyl].
Dactylar (a.) Pertaining to dactyl; dactylic.
Dactylar (a.) (Zool.) Of or pertaining to a finger or toe, or to the claw of an insect crustacean.
Dactylet (n.) A dactyl. [Obs.]
Dactylic (a.) Pertaining to, consisting chiefly or wholly of, dactyls; as, dactylic verses.
Dactylic (n.) A line consisting chiefly or wholly of dactyls; as, these lines are dactylics.
Dactylic (n.) Dactylic meters.
Dactylioglyph (n.) An engraver of gems for rings and other ornaments.
Dactylioglyph (n.) The inscription of the engraver's name on a finger ring or gem.
Dactylioglyphi (n.) The art or process of gem engraving.
Dactyliography (n.) The art of writing or engraving upon gems.
Dactyliography (n.) In general, the literature or history of the art.
Dactyliology (n.) That branch of archaeology which has to do with gem engraving.
Dactyliology (n.) That branch of archaeology which has to do with finger rings.
Dactyliomancy (n.) Divination by means of finger rings.
Dactylist (n.) A writer of dactylic verse.
Dactylitis (n.) An inflammatory affection of the fingers.
Dactylology (n.) The art of communicating ideas by certain movements and positions of the fingers; -- a method of conversing practiced by the deaf and dumb.
Dactylomancy (n.) Dactyliomancy.
Dactylonomy (n.) The art of numbering or counting by the fingers.
Dactylopterous (a.) Having the inferior rays of the pectoral fins partially or entirely free, as in the gurnards.
Dactylotheca (n.) The scaly covering of the toes, as in birds.
Dactylozooid (n.) A kind of zooid of Siphonophora which has an elongated or even vermiform body, with one tentacle, but no mouth. See Siphonophora.
Dad (n.) Father; -- a word sometimes used by children.
Dadaism (n.) 達達主義（崇尚虛無的藝術派別） A nihilistic art movement (especially in painting) that flourished in Europe early in the 20th century; based on irrationality and negation of the accepted laws of beauty [syn: {dada}, {dadaism}].
Dadaism (n.) Dadaism or Dada was a form of artistic anarchy born out of disgust for the social, political and cultural values of the time. It embraced elements of art, music, poetry, theatre, dance and politics. Dada was not so much a style of art like Cubism or Fauvism; it was more a protest movement with an anti-establishment manifesto.
Compare: Nihilism
Nihilism (n.) [Mass noun] 虛無主義 The rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless.
Nihilism (n.) (Philosophy) The belief that nothing in the world has a real existence.
Nihilism (n.) (Historical) The doctrine of an extreme Russian revolutionary party c.1900 which found nothing to approve of in the established social order.
Compare: Nihilistic
Nihilistic (a.) 虛無主義者的；虛無主義的；恐怖分子的；恐怖主義的 Rejecting all religious and moral principles in the belief that life is meaningless.
‘An embittered, nihilistic teenager.’
Daddled (imp. & p. p.) of Dadle
Daddling (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Dadle
Dadle (v. i.) To toddle; to walk unsteadily, like a child or an old man; hence, to do anything slowly or feebly.
Daddock (n.) The rotten body of a tree.
Daddy (n.) Diminutive of Dad.
Daddy longlegs () An arachnidan of the genus Phalangium, and allied genera, having a small body and four pairs of long legs; -- called also harvestman, carter, and grandfather longlegs.
Daddy longlegs () A name applied to many species of dipterous insects of the genus Tipula, and allied genera, with slender bodies, and very long, slender legs; the crane fly; -- called also father longlegs.
Dade (v. t.) To hold up by leading strings or by the hand, as a child while he toddles. [Obs.]
Little children when they learn to go By painful mothers daded to and fro. -- Drayton.
Dade (v. i.) To walk unsteadily, as a child in leading strings, or just learning to walk; to move slowly. [Obs.]
No sooner taught to dade, but from their mother trip. -- Drayton.
Dade -- U.S. County in Missouri
Population (2000): 7923
Housing Units (2000): 3758
Land area (2000): 490.341256 sq. miles (1269.977968 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 15.960015 sq. miles (41.336247 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 506.301271 sq. miles (1311.314215 sq. km)
Located within: Missouri (MO), FIPS 29
Location: 37.416470 N, 93.833128 W
Headwords:
Dade
Dade, MO
Dade County
Dade County, MO
Dade -- U.S. County in Georgia
Population (2000): 15154
Housing Units (2000): 6224
Land area (2000): 173.978017 sq. miles (450.600975 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.181430 sq. miles (0.469902 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 174.159447 sq. miles (451.070877 sq. km)
Located within: Georgia (GA), FIPS 13
Location: 34.863615 N, 85.501646 W
Headwords:
Dade
Dade, GA
Dade County
Dade County, GA
Dadoes (n. pl. ) of Dado
Dado (n.) (Arch.) That part of a pedestal included between the base and the cornice (or surbase); the die. See Illust. of Column.
Dado (n.) (Arch.) In any wall, that part of the basement included between the base and the base course. See Base course, under Base.
Dado (n.) (Arch.) In interior decoration, the lower part of the wall of an apartment when adorned with moldings, or otherwise specially decorated. Daedal
Dado (n.) Panel forming the lower part of an interior wall when it is finished differently from the rest of the wall [syn: wainscot, dado].
Dado (n.) The section of a pedestal between the base and the surbase.
Dado (n.) A rectangular groove cut into a board so that another piece can fit into it.
Dado (v.) Provide with a dado; "The owners wanted to dado their dining room".
Dado (v.) Cut a dado into or fit into a dado.
Daedal (a.) Alt. of Daedalian.
Daedalian (a.) Cunningly or ingeniously formed or working; skillful; artistic; ingenious.
Our bodies decked in our d[ae]dalian arms. -- Chapman.
The d[ae]dal hand of Nature. -- J. Philips.
The doth the d[ae]dal earth throw forth to thee, Out of her fruitful, abundant flowers. -- Spenser.
Daedalian (a.) Crafty; deceitful. [R.] -- Keats.
Daedalous (a.) (Bot.) Having a variously cut or incised margin; -- said of leaves. Daemon
Daemon (a.) Alt. of Daemonic
Daemonic (a.) See Demon, Demonic.
Daff (v. t.) To cast aside; to put off; to doff. [Obs.]
Canst thou so daff me? Thou hast killed my child. -- Shak.
Daff (n.) A stupid, blockish fellow; a numskull. [Obs.] -- Chaucer.
Daff (v. i.) To act foolishly; to be foolish or sportive; to toy. [Scot.] -- Jamieson
Daff (v. t.) To daunt. [Prov. Eng.] -- Grose.
Daffodil (n.) (Bot.) A plant of the genus Asphodelus.
Daffodil (n.) (Bot.) A plant of the genus Narcissus (N. Pseudo-narcissus). It has a bulbous root and beautiful flowers, usually of a yellow hue. Called also daffodilly, daffadilly, daffadowndilly, daffydowndilly, etc.
With damask roses and daffadillies set. -- Spenser.
Strow me the ground with daffadowndillies, And cowslips, and kingcups, and loved lilies. -- Spenser.
A college gown That clad her like an April daffodilly. -- Tennyson
And chance-sown daffodil. -- Whittier.
Daffodil (n.) Any of numerous varieties of Narcissus plants having showy often yellow flowers with a trumpet-shaped central crown [syn: daffodil, Narcissus pseudonarcissus].
Daffodil (n.) [ C ] A yellow, bell-shaped flower with a long stem that is commonly seen in the spring.
Daft (a.) Stupid; foolish; idiotic; also, delirious; insane; as, he has gone daft.
Let us think no more of this daft business -- Sir W. Scott.
Daft (a.) Gay; playful; frolicsome. [Scot.] -- Jamieson.
Daft (a.) Informal or slang terms for mentally irregular; "it used to drive my husband balmy" [syn: balmy, barmy, bats, batty, bonkers, buggy, cracked, crackers, daft, dotty, fruity, haywire, kooky, kookie, loco, loony, loopy, nuts, nutty, round the bend, around the bend, wacky, whacky].
Daftness (n.) The quality of being daft.
Daftness (n.) Informal terms for insanity [syn: craziness, daftness, flakiness].
Dag (n.) A dagger; a poniard. [Obs.] -- Johnson.
Dag (n.) A large pistol formerly used. [Obs.]
The Spaniards discharged their dags, and hurt some. -- Foxe.
A sort of pistol, called dag, was used about the same time as hand guns and harquebuts. -- Grose.
Dag (n.) (Zool.) The unbranched antler of a young deer.
Dag (n.) A misty shower; dew. [Obs.]
Dag (n.) A loose end; a dangling shred.
Daglocks, clotted locks hanging in dags or jags at a sheep's tail. -- Wedgwood.