The origin of the term is as follows:–More than sixty years ago all the principal avenues of the city of Delaware converged to a toll gate at the entrance to the Elmwood Cemetery Road. The cemetery having been laid out long prior to the construction of the plank road beyond the toll gate, funerals were allowed to pass through the latter toll free. One day as Dr Price, a well-known physician, stopped to pay his toll he observed to the gatekeeper: “Considering the benevolent character of the profession to which I have the honour to belong, I think you ought to let me pass toll free.” “No, no, doctor,” the man replied; “we can’t afford that. You send too many deadheads through here as it is!” The story travelled, and the term “Deadheads” became fixed.
74Dead Reckoning. Calculating a ship’s whereabouts at sea from the log-book without aid from the celestial bodies.
Dead Sea. Traditionally on the site of the city of Sodom. Its waters are highly saline, and no fish are found in them.
Dean Street. After Bishop Compton, who, before he became Dean of the Savoy Chapel, held the living of St Anne’s, Soho.
Dean’s Yard. Affords access to the residence of the Dean of Westminster, which, with the cloisters, belonged to the abbots prior to the Reformation.
Death or Glory Men. The 17th Lancers, from their badge, a Death’s head superposed on the words “Or Glory.”
De Beauvoir Town. From the manorial residence of the De Beauvoirs.
Deccan. From the Sanskrit Dakshina, the south, being that portion of Hindustan south of the Vindhya Mountains.
December. The tenth month of the Roman Calendar when the year was reckoned from March.
Decemvir. One of the ten legislators of Rome appointed to draw up a code of laws.
Decoration Day. 30th May, observed in the United States for decorating the graves of the soldiers who fell in the struggle between the North and South.
Deemster. See “Doomster.”
Dehaley Street. From the residence of the Dehaleys.
Delaware. After the Governor of Virginia, Thomas West, Lord Delaware, who died on board his vessel while visiting the bay in 1610.
Del Salviati. The assumed name of the famous Italian painter Francesco Rossi, in compliment to his patron, Cardinal Salviati, who was born in the same year as himself.
Demijohn. A corruption of Damaghan, in Persia, a town anciently famous for its glass-ware.
75Democracy. From the Greek demos, people, and kratein, to rule. Government by the people.
Denbigh. From Dinbach, the Celtic for “a little fort.”
Denmark. Properly Danmark, the mark or boundary of the land of the Danes.
Depot. The American term for a railway station.
Deptford. The deep ford over the Ravensbourne.
Derby. Saxon for “deer village.” The Derby stakes at Epsom were founded by Edward Smith Stanley, Earl of Derby, in 1780.
Derrick. The old name for a gibbet and now for a high crane. So called after a seventeenth-century hangman at Tyburn.
Derry Down. The opening words of the Druidical chorus as they proceeded to the sacred grove to gather mistletoe at the winter solstice. Derry is Celtic for “grove.”
Dessborough Place. From Dessbrowe House, in which resided the brother-in-law of Oliver Cromwell.
Detroit. French for “strait.”
Deuteronomy. A Greek word signifying the second giving of the Law by Moses.
Devereaux Court. See “Essex Street.”
Devil’s Sonata. One of Tartini’s most celebrated compositions. He dreamt that the Evil One appeared to him playing a sonata on the violin. At its conclusion his visitor asked: “Tartini, canst thou play this?” Awaking with his mind still full of the grotesque music, Tartini played it over, and then recorded it permanently on paper.
Devil to Pay. When money was lost by unsuccessful litigation it passed into the hands of lawyers, who were thought to spend it where they spent much of their time–viz. at the Devil Tavern in Fleet Street. The money, therefore, went to the Devil.
76Devizes. From the Latin Devisæ, denoting the point where the old Roman road passed into the district of the Celts.
Devon. After a Celtic tribe, the Damnonii.
Devonshire House. The town house of the Duke of Devonshire.
Devonshire Square. From the mansion of William Cavendish, Earl of Devonshire, who died here in 1628.
Diamond King. The late Mr Alfred Beit, the South African financier, whose wealth rivalled that of the Rothschilds.
Dickey. A shirt front, which often has to do duty for a clean shirt. So called from the German decken, to hide.
Diddler. A schemer, an artful dodger. After Jeremy Diddler, the chief character in the old farce, “Raising the Wind.”
Die Hards. The 57th Foot. When the regiment was surrounded at Albuera, their Colonel cried: “Die hard, my lads; die hard!” And fighting, they died.
Digger Indians. Tribes of the lowest class who live principally upon roots. They have never been known to hunt.
Diggings. A Bohemian term for “lodgings.” Not from the Californian gold diggings, as generally supposed, but from the Galena lead miners of Wisconsin, who called both their mines and their underground winter habitations “diggings.”
Dime. A ten-cent piece, from the French dixme, or dîme, tenth–i.e. of a dollar.
Dimity. First brought from Damietta, Egypt.
Dine with Duke Humphrey. An old saying of those who were fated to go dinnerless. When the “Good Duke Humphrey,” son of Henry IV., was buried at St Albans, a monument to his memory was to be erected in St Paul’s Cathedral. At that time, as for long afterwards, the nave of our national fane was 77a fashionable promenade. When the promenaders left for dinner, others who had no dinners to go to explained that they would stay behind in order to look for the Good Duke’s monument.
Dining-room Servant. An Americanism for waiter or male house servant.
Diorama. See “Panorama.”
Dirty Dick’s. The noted tavern in Bishopgate, said to have been associated with Nathaniel Bentley, the miser, who never washed himself. As a matter of fact, Dirty Dick was an ironmonger in Leadenhall Street. After his death his effects were bought and exhibited at the Bishopgate tavern, together with his portrait as a sign.
Dirty Shirts. The 101st Foot, who were hotly engaged at the battle of Delhi in their shirt sleeves.
Dissenters. Synonymous with the Nonconformists. Those who dissented from the doctrines of the Church of England and those likewise who, at a later period, separated from the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
Distaffs’ Day. The old name for 7th January, when, Christmas being over with Twelfth Night, women returned to their distaffs or spindles.
Divan.
