dabble 
dabble (dab'l), v. ; pret. and pp. dabbled, ppr. 
ddblilini/. [Early mod. E. also liable; = MD. 
dabbele'n, pinch, knead, fumble, dabble, = Icel. 
dujhi, dabble; freq. and dim. of dab 1 , ?;.] I. 
trims. To dip a little and often; hence, to wet; 
moisten; spatter; sprinkle. 
Then came wandering hy 
A shadow like an angel, with bright hair 
Dabbled in blood. Sha/c., Rich. III., i. 4. 
The lively Liquor-God 
With dabbled heels hath swelling clusters trod. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 4. 
II. intrans. 1. To play in water, as with the 
hands ; splash or play, as in water. 
The good housewives of those days were a kind of am- 
phibious animal, delighting exceedingly to be dalMing in 
water. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 167. 
Where the duck dabbles 'mid the rustling sedge. 
Wordsicorth, Evening Walk. 
2. To do anything in a slight or superficial 
manner ; touch or try here and there ; dip into 
anything: with in: as, to dabble in railway 
shares ; to dabble in literature. 
On the old frame remain these lines, probably written by 
the painter [Lucas de Heere] himself, who, we have seen, 
dabbled in poetry! Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting, I. vii. 
I had dabbled a little in the Universal History. 
Lamb, My First Play. 
3. To tamper ; meddle. 
You, I think, have been dabbliny . . . with the text. 
Bp. Atterbury, To Pope. 
dabbler (dab'ler), n. 1. One who dabbles or 
plays in water, or as in water. 2. One who dab- 
bles in or dips slightly into some pursuit, busi- 
ness, or study ; a superficial worker or thinker. 
In matters of science he [Jefferson] was rather a dabbler 
than a philosopher. 
Theodore Parker, Historic Americans, p. 283. 
dabblingly (dab'ling-li), adv. In a dabbling 
manner ; as a dabbler. 
dabby(dab'i), a. [< daft 1 + -y 1 .] Moist; soft; 
adhesive. [Local.] 
dabchick (dab'chik), n. [A var. of dobcliick, 
dopchick.] 1. A newly hatched or unfledged 
chick. 
As when a dab-chick waddles through the copse 
On feet and wings, and Hies, and wades, and hops. 
Pope, Dnnciad, ii. 63. 
Hence 2f. A delectable morsel; a childish, 
tender, delicate person. 
She is a delicate dabchick ! I must have her. 
B. Jowni, Alchemist, iv. 1. 
3. A small grebe ; a water-bird of the family 
PodicipedidcB : especially applied in Europe to 
the Podiceps minor, the little grebe, and in the 
United States to the Podilymbus podiceps, the 
Carolina or pied-billed grebe. Also dop-chicken. 
daberlack (dab'er-lak), n. [Sc.] 1. The sea- 
weed Aluria esculenta : same as badderlocks. 
2. Any wet, dirty strip of cloth or leather. 
3. The hair of the head hanging in lank, 
tangled, and separate locks. 
dabitis (dab'i-tis), . The mnemonic name 
given by Petrus Hispanus to that indirect mood 
of the first figure of syllogism in which the 
major premise is universal and affirmative, and 
the minor premise and conclusion are particular 
and affirmative. These distinctions of quantity and 
quality are indicated by the three vowels of the word, 
a, i, i. The letter x at the end shows that the mood is 
reduced to direct reasoning by simply converting the con- 
clusion, while the letter (/ at the beginning shows that the 
mood to which this reduction leads is darii. 
daboya (da-boi'a), n. [E. Ind.] A venomous 
1438 
dabster (dab'ster),. [< dab* + -ster.~\ l.One 
who is skilled ; one who is expert ; a master of 
his business; a dab. [Colloq.] 2. A dabbler ; 
a bungler. [Colloq. and rare.] 
The work of some hired dabster in all the misinforma- 
tion that can be extorted from the statistics of national 
wealth and progress. A'. A. Rev., CXXVI. 160. 
dabuht, . [Appar. repr. Ar. dhab', a hyena.] 
An old name of the mandrill, Papio maimon. 
The second kinde of hyena, called papio or dabuh. 
Topsel (1658). 
dab-wash (dab'wosh), n. A small wash, done 
after the regular family wash. [Prov. Eng.] 
That great room itself was sure to have clothes hanging to 
dry at the fire, whatever day of the week it was ; some one 
of the large irregular family having had what was called 
in the district a dab-wash of a few articles forgotten on 
the regular day. Mrs. Qaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, vi. 
da capella (da ka-pel'la). [It. : da, < L. de, 
of, from; capella, a chapel: see chapel, n.~\ In 
music, a direction to play a piece or passage in 
church style that is, with solemnity; in a 
stately manner. 
da capo (da ka'po). [It., from the beginning: 
da, < L. de, of. from ; capo, < L. caput = E. 
head : see cope*.] J n music, a direction to re- 
peat from the beginning: usually abbreviated 
to D. C. The end of the repeat is generally indicated 
by the word Jine. Da capo al fine, a direction to repeat 
from the beginning to the sign fine. Da capo al segno, 
a direction to repeat from the beginning to the sign -ft:. 
dace (das), n. [Early mod. E. also darce, darse; 
< ME. darce, darse, < OF. dars, a dace, same as 
dart, darz, a dart (ML. nom. dardus) ; F. dard, 
a dace, ML. ace. dardum, whence also E. dar, 
dare 3 , a dace ; so called from its swiftness : see 
dart*. For the changes, cf. bass 1 , formerly 
barse, bace.] 1. A small fresh-water cypri- 
noid fish of Europe, Lcuciscus vulgaris or Squa- 
Dace (LfuciscHs vulgaris}. 
Kits leuciscvs, resembling and closely related to 
the roach and chub. It has a stout fusiform shape, 
Stharyngeal teeth in two rows, and a complete lateral line, 
t chiefly inhabits the deep and clear waters of quiet 
streams in Italy, France, Germany, etc., and some of the 
rivers of England. It is gregarious and swims in shoals. 
It seldom exceeds a pound in weight, but from its ac- 
tivity affords the angler good sport. Also called dar, 
dare, and dart. 
Let me live harmlessly, and near the brink 
Of Trent or Avon have a dwelling-place, 
Where I may see my quill or cork down sink, 
With eager bit* of perch, or bleak, or dace. 
J. Davors, quoted in I. Walton's Complete Angler, i. 1, 
2. A name of sundry similar or related fishes, 
(a) In some parts of the United States, a cyprinoid rtsh of 
the genus Rhinichthyx, distinguished by the projection and 
blackish color of the prenasal region, (ft) The redftn, 
Minnilus cormttus. 
Dacelo (da-se'lo), n. [NL. (W. E. Leach, 1816), 
a transposition of L. alcedo, a kingfisher : see 
Alceda.] The typical genus of birds of the sub- 
Indian serpent of the genus Daboia, especially 
D. russelli. 
Laughing Kingfisher (Dacelo 
family Dacelonince. D. gigas is the large Aus- 
tralian species known as the laughing-jackass. 
Daceloninse (da-se-lo-ni'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Da- 
Cflo(n-) + -!<e.] One of the two subfamilies of 
Aleedinidw, having the bill more or less de- 
pressed, with smooth, rounded, or sulcate cul- 
men ; the insectivorous, as distinguished from 
the piscivorous, kingfishers. There are about 14 
genera and upward of 80 species, which feed for the most 
part upon insects, reptiles, and land-mollusks, instead 
of fish. All are old-world birds ; some are African and 
dacnidine 
Asiatic, but most inhabit the Australian, Papuan, and Oce- 
anic regions. Leading genera are Dacelo, Halcyon, Tany- 
iiptera, and Ceyx. 
dacey (da'si), . The usual name in Bengal, 
and in sericicultural works, of a race of silk- 
worms of which there are eight annual genera- 
tions. 
The silkworm yielding eight crops is found in Bengal, 
and is there called dacey. 
L. P. Brockett, Silk-weaving, p. 13. 
da chiesa (da kia'sa). [It. : da, < L. de, of, 
from ; chiesa, < L. ecclesia, < Gr. eudijoia, church : 
see ecclesia.'] In music, for the church ; in church 
style. 
dachshund (G. pron. diiks'hont), n. [G., < 
dachs, badger, + Jiund = E. hound.'] The Ger- 
man badger-dog; a breed of short-legged, long- 
bodied dogs used to draw or bait badgers. 
Dacian (da'sian), a. and . [< L. Vacia, the 
province so called, < Dad = Gr. Ao/coi. The L. 
adj. was Dacus or Daeicus, rarely Dacius.] I. 
a. Pertaining or belonging to the Daci, an an- 
cient barbarian people, or to their country, Da- 
cia, made a Roman province after their con- 
quest by Trajan (A. D. 104), comprising part of 
Hungary, Transylvania, nearly all of Rumania, 
and some adjacent districts. 
There were his young barbarians all at play, 
There was their Dacian mother ; he, their sire, 
Butchered to make a Roman holiday ! 
Byron, Childe Harold, iv. 141. 
II. n. One of the Daci ; a native of Dacia. 
In the time of Trajan were executed the reliefs which 
represent his victory over the Daciaiu. 
C. 0. MiUler, Jtfanual of Archieol. (trans.), 202. 
dacite (da'slt), . [< Dacia (see Dacian) + 
-tie 2 .] A name first used by Fr. Von Hauer 
and Stache, in 1863, in describing the geol- 
ogy of Transylvania, to include the varieties 
of greenstone-trachyte which contain quartz. 
Dacite consists essentially of plagioclase and quartz, to- 
gether with one or more minerals belonging to the biotite, 
hornblende, and pyroxene families. The ground-mass is 
very variable in structure and character. Dacite rarely 
occurs except in a more or less altered form, and is espe- 
cially interesting as being one of the rocks associated with 
occurrences of the precious metals and their ores in Tran- 
sylvania and the Cordilleran regions of North and South 
America. It is a rock the composition and classification 
of which has been the cause of much discussion among 
geologists. See rhyolite. 
dacityt (das'i-ti), . A contraction of audacity. 
I have plaid a major in my time with as good dacity as 
ere a hobby-horse on 'em all. Sampson, Vow Breaker. 
dacker, daker 1 (dak'er, da'k&r), r. [E. dial, 
and Sc. (Sc. usually spelled daikrr), also docker, 
dooker; origin obscure; cf. OFlem. daeckeren, 
move quickly, move to and fro, vibrate.] I. 
intrans. 1. To go about in a careless, aimless, 
or feeble manner ; loiter ; saunter. 
I e'en daiker on wi' the family frae year's end to year's 
end. Scott, Hob Roy, vi. 
I'll pay your thousan' pund Scots . . . gin ye'll . . . 
just daiker up the gate wi' this Sassenach. 
Scott, Rob Roy, xxiii. 
2. To labor after the regular hours. 3. To 
traffic; truck. 4. To engage; grapple. 
I dacker'd wi' him by mysel'. 
Poem* in the Buchan Dialect, p. 7. 
5. To search, as for stolen or smuggled goods. 
The Sevitians will but doubt be here, 
To dacker for her as for robbed gear. 
A. Ross, Helenore, p. 91. 
H. trans. To search; examine; search for 
(stolen or smuggled goods) : as, to dacker a 
house. 
dacker, daker 1 (dak'er, da'ker), n. [< dacker, 
daker 1 , i'."] A dispute; a struggle. 
Dacne (dak'ne), n. [NL., irreg. < Gr. Aduvetv, 
bite, sting.] I. A genus of clavicorn beetles. 
In its original application it was nearly the same as the 
modern family Cryptophagidce ; in a restricted sense it in- 
cludes those Cryplophagidce which have the antenme end- 
ing in a large orbicular or ovoid and compressed mass. 
2. A genus of tetramerous beetles, of the family 
Erotylidce : same as Engis. 
Dacnididae (dak-nid'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Dae- 
nis (-nid-), 1, + -ida;.'] A family of birds, typi- 
fied by the genus Dacnis: synonymous with 
Ccerebida>. Cabanis, 1850. 
Dacnidinae (dak-ni-di'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Dac- 
nix (-/till-). 1, + -(''.] A subfamily of Ceere- 
bidw, typified by the genus Dacnis, containing 
pitpits with a straight and acute bill and man- 
dibles of equal length. It contains the genera 
Dacnis, (!<'rll>i</i, ll> miiliifiiix, X< inxiacnis, Co- 
mrostrum, and Ori/nnani.t. 
dacnidine (dak'ni-din), a. Pertaining to or 
having the characters of the Dacnidina. 
