dog-tooth spar 
dog-tooth spar, Violet. See the nouns, 
dog-town (dog'toun), n. A colony or settle- 
ment of prairie-dogs, Cynomys ludovioiamis or 
C. eolutiiliiuiiiis. [Western U. S.] 
The black-footed ferret . . . will . . . work extraordi- 
nary havoc in a duff toum, as it call follow the wretched 
little beasts down into the burrows. 
T. ItooscvM, The Century, XXXV. 660. 
dog-tree (dog'tre), . 1. The cornel or dog- 
wood. 
The knot faatned vnto it was of the barke of the Cor- 
nell or dotjije-tree, wouen with such art that a man could 
neither nude beginning nor end thereof. 
Punkas, Pilgrimage, p. 326. 
2. The alder. [North. Bug.] 
dog-trick (dog'trik), n. A currish or mean 
trick ; an ill-natured practical joke. 
I will heere, in the way of mirthe, declare a prettie dog- 
tficke or gibe as concerninge this mayden. 
Polydore Vergil (trans.). 
dog-trot (dog'trot), n. A gentle trot, like that 
of a dog. 
At half-past twelve we were oil again on a dog-trot, 
keeping a straight course for the outermost point of a 
large cape, hoping to reach it by noon of the following 
day. Kane, Sec. Urinu. Exp., II. 346. 
dog-vane (dog'van), n. [< dog + rane.] Naut., 
a small vane, composed of thread, cork, and fea- 
thers or bunting, set on the weather gunwale 
of a vessel to show the direction of the wind. 
dog-watch (dog'woch), n. Naut., a watch of 
two hours, arranged so as to alter the watches 
kept from day to day by each division of the 
crew. The first dog-watch is from 4 to 6 P. M., 
the second from 6 to 8 P. M. See watch. 
As the dog-watches come during twilight, afterthe day's 
work is done, and before the night- watch is set, they are 
the watches in which everybody is on deck. 
Ji. 11. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 14. 
dog-weary (dog' wer"i), a. [Early mod. E. also 
dpgye-wearie.'] Verytired; much fatigued; dog- 
tired. 
O master, master, I have watch'd so long 
That I am doy-weai-y. Shak., T. of the S., Iv. 2. 
dog-whelk (dog'hwelk), . A popular Eng- 
lish name of univalve shells of 
the genus Nasaa, as N. reticulata 
or N. arcularia. 
dog-whipper (dog'hwip'er), n. 
A church beadle. [North. Bug.] 
It were verie good the dog-whipper in 
Paules would have a care of this in his 
unsaverie visitation everie Saterday. 
Xashe, Pierce Penilesse (1592). 
Dog-whelk In the neighbourhood of Sheffield a sex- 
(JVassa reticu- ton is still called a doy-ichipper. 
X. and Q., 7th ser., III. 316. 
dogwood (dog'wud), u. [Appar. < dog + wood 1 . 
Some suppose dogwood, as applied to the wood 
of trees of the genus Cornus, to be a corruption 
of *dagwood (< dagl + wood 1 ), a name equiv. 
to its other names, prick-wood, skewer-wood, so 
called because, being firm, hard, and smooth, 
it is used to make butchers' skewers ; but the 
form "dogwood is not found, and in this, as well 
as in its other applications (see def. 3), and in 
similar popular names of plants, it is not ne- 
cessary to assume a definite intention in the use 
of the animal name.] 1. A tree of the genus 
Cornus; the cornel; especially, in Europe, the 
wild or male cornel, C. sanguined. Also called 
dogwood-tree. In the United States some of the species 
arc familiar, as the flowering dogwood, C.Jtorida, a highly 
ornamental tree, of moderate size, covered in May or early 
June with a profusion of large white or pale-pink flowers ; 
the California]! dogwood, C. Xuttallii; the swamp-dog- 
wood, C. sericea; and the dwarf dogwood, C. Canadensis 
See Cornus. 
2. The wood of trees of the genus Cornus. Dog- 
wood 19 so exceptionally free from silex that watchmakers 
use small splinters of it for cleaning out the pivot-holes 
of watches, and opticians for removing dust from small 
deep-seated lenses. 
3. Any cornel-like shrub so called, as in Eng- 
land the Euoiiymus Europtem. The black dogwood 
of Europe is ; Manama Frangula and Prunu* Padu*, 
and of the West Indies, Piscidia Cartkaginenni ; false 
or striped dogwood, Acer PennryliXHUmm ; Jamaica or 
white dogwood, Pixidia Enjthrina ; poison dogwood 
Hhia vemnata; pond-dogwood, Cephalanthun occiden- 
tals ; and the white dogwood of England, Viburnum 
Upulwi. fhe New Zealand dogwood, Bedfordia salidna 
I the natural order Composite, has a beautifully marked 
wood, used in cabinet-work. The dogwood of Australia 
'acktonto Koparia, a leguminous shrub, has a disagree- 
able odor when burning. 
dogwood-bark (dog'wud-bark), n. The bark 
ot the Cornus florida, used in the United States 
as a substitute for Peruvian bark in cases of 
tever. Ure, Diet., II. 69. 
dogwood-tree (dog'wud-tre), . Same as doa- 
wood, 1. 
doil (doil), n. [A dial. var. of dwaul, a. v.] 
Nonsense. [Prov. Eng.] 
1722 
doilt (doilt), o. [Sc., also written doylt, doil'd, 
confused, stupid, crazed, appar. a var. of dulled 
OT dolt: see dolt. Cf.dnil.] Stupid; confused; 
crazed. 
doily (doi'li), n. ; pi. doilies (-Hz). [Said to be 
named from the first maker, Mr. Doily or Doy- 
ley, "a very respectable warehouseman, whose 
family had resided in the great old house next 
to Hodsoll's the banker's from the time of 
Queen Anne" (N. and Q.). The slight resem- 
blance to E. dial. (Norfolk) dwile, a small towel, 
a coarse napkin, < D. dwaal = E. towel, appears 
to be accidental, but it may have affected the 
present use of the word.] 1. An old kind of 
woolen stuff. Also used attributively. 
The stores are very low, sir ; some doiley petticoats and 
mauteaus we have, and half a dozen pairs of laced shoes. 
Dryden, Limberham, iv. 1. 
We should be as weary of one set of acquaintance, 
though never so good, as we are of one suit, though never 
so fine ; a fool, and a doily stuff, would now and then find 
days of grace, and be worn for variety. 
Congreve, Way of the World, iii. 10. 
2. A small ornamental napkin, often in colors, 
fringed and embroidered, and brought on the 
dinner-table on a dessert-plate, with the finger- 
bowl, etc. , arranged upon it : also used for many 
similar purposes. 
Also spelled doyley. 
doing (do'ing), n. [< ME. doinge, pi. doinges; 
verbal n. of rfo 1 , D.] 1 . A thing done ; a trans- 
action, feat, or action, good or bad. [Rare in 
the singular.] 
Thou takest witnesse of God that he approve thi doynge. 
Wydif, Select Works (ed. Arnold), III. 174. 
"Yon are brave fellows ! " said the bishop, 
" And the king of your doings shall know." 
Kooin Hood and the Bishop of Hereford (Child's Ballads, 
[V. 295). 
2. pi. Course of action ; the steps or measures 
taken in regard to something; proceedings; 
movements. 
For submitting your doinges to mi iudgement, I thanke 
you. Atsckaiii, The Scholemaster, p. 5. 
The long fantastic night 
AVith all its doings had and had not been. 
Tennyson, Princess, iv. 
doit 1 (doit), n. [= LG. and G. deut = Dan. doit, 
< D. dnit (pron. nearly doit), formerly duyt, 
also called duycken, a small coin (see def.) ; ori- 
gin unknown. Cf. doitkin = dotkin = dodkin.'] 
1. A small copper coin (the eighth part of a 
Dolabella sca- 
fula. 
Pontifical Dolabne. 
Obverse. Reverse. 
Doit struck for Java by the Dutch. 1765 ; British Museum. 
{ Size of the original. 
stiver) formerly current in the Netherlands and 
the Dutch colonies, and worth about a farthing. 
2. Any trifling coin or sum of money. 
Morel. You will give me my gold again? 
\st Guard. Kot a doit, as I am virtuous and sinful. 
Shirley, Bird in a Cage. 
And force the beggarly last doit, by means 
That his own humour dictates, from the clutch 
Of Poverty. Cowper, Task, v. 316. 
Hence 3. A trifle : as, I care not a doit. 
doit 2 t (doit), v. i. An obsolete (Scotch) variant 
of dote^. 
doited (doi'ted), a. [ Var. of doted, q. v.] Same 
as doted, 1. [Scotch.] 
Thou clears the head o' doited Lear, 
Thou cheers the heart o' drooping Care. 
Burns, Scotch Drink. 
doiter (doi'ter), v. i. [Cf. dodder^ and totter; 
also doitf dote*.] To walk in a feeble 
manner, as an aged or infirm person; totter 
[Scotch.] 
doitkin (doit'kin), n. [Also dodkin, dotkin; < D. 
d/iitken, dim. of duit, a doit.] The name given 
by the English to a small Dutch coin which was 
illegally imported into England, especially in 
the fifteenth century: also applied generally to 
any small coin or sum of money. 
Thence he brought him to an oil cellar, and where they 
sold olives ; here you shall have (quoth he) a measure 
called Cnoenix, for two brazen dndbint (a good market be- 
Holland, tr. of Plutarch, p. 126. 
For, sir, you must understand that she's not worth a 
dodkin for a queen. Shelton, tr. of Don Quixote. 
dokaret, . An obsolete spelling of ducker. 
An obsolete spelling of ducki, duck'*. 
doldrums 
doke 2 (dok), n. [A dial. var. of dalk^.] 1. A 
deep dint or furrow. 2. A contusion. Dun- 
glison. 3. A small brook. Hattiwell. 4. A flaw 
in a boys' marble. Grose. [Prov. Eng. in all 
senses.] 
dokeret, An obsolete spelling of ducker. 
dokhma, dokmeh (dok'ma, -me), >/. [< Pers. 
dakhma."] A receptacle for the dead used by the 
Parsees, consisting of a low round tower built 
of large stones, on the grated top of which the 
bodies are exposed till, being stripped of their 
flesh by carnivorous birds, their bones drop 
through the grating into the pit of the tower. 
After all, there is something sublime in that sepulture 
of the Parsees, who erect near every village a dokhma, or 
Tower of Silence, upon whose summit they may bury their 
dead in air. T. W. Higyinson, Oldport Days, p. 167. 
dokimastic, dokimasy, a. Same as docimastic, 
docimasy. 
dokmeh, n. See dokhma. 
doko (do'ko), n. [African.] A name of a dip- 
neumonous lung-fish or mudfish of Africa, Pro- 
topterus (Lepidosiren) armectcns. See mudfish, 
and cut under Protoptcrus. Also called komtok. 
dol. An abbreviation of dollar or dollars. 
Dolabella (do-la-bel'a), n. [NL., < L. dolabella, 
dim. of dolabra, a hatchet: see 
dolabra.] A genus of tectibran- 
chiate gastropods, of the family 
Aplysiidm, or sea-hares : so called 
from the shape of the shell. The 
species are found in the Mediter- 
ranean and eastern seas. 
dolabra (do-la'bra), n. ; pi. dola- 
bra; (-bre). [L., a kind of hatchet 
or ax (see def.), < dolare, hew, chip with an ax.] 
In Rom. antiq., a cutting or digging implement 
of various shapes, 
used, according to 
shape and purpose, 
as a hatchet, an ax, a 
knife, a chisel, a mat- 
tock, or a pickax. Do- 
labne were used by the 
Roman soldiers in making 
intrenchments and de- 
stroying fortifications, 
others of a more ornate 
form were employed by 
the pontifices in slaugh- 
tering their sacrificial victims, and others again of various 
shapes were used in gardening. 
dolabrate (do-la'brat), a. [< dolabra + -atel.] 
Same as dolabriform. 
dolabriform (do-lab'ri-fomi), a. [< L. dolabra, 
q. v., + forma, shape.] Having the form of an 
ax or a cleaver, (a) In M., applied to certain fleshy 
leaves which are straight 
and thick on one side, thin- 
ning to an acute edge on the 
other, and attenuate toward 
the base. (4) In conch., ap- 
plied to the foot of certain 
bivalves, (e) In entom., ap- 
plied to parts which are 
cylindrical, or nearly so, at 
the base, but spread out on 
one side above, so as to form 
a convex sharp edge or keel, 
dolcan (dol'kan), n. Same as duldana. 
dolce (dol'che), a. and . [It., < L. dulcis, sweet : 
see dulcet.] I. a. In music, sweet : an instruc- 
tion to the performer that the music is to be 
executed softly and sweetly. 
II. n. A soft-toned organ-stop. 
dolce far niente (dol'che far nien'te). [It., 
lit. sweet do nothing: dolce, < L. dulcis, sweet; 
far, fare, < L. facere, do ; niente, nothing : see 
dulee, douce, and fact. Cf. faineant.] Sweet 
idleness ; pleasing inactivity. 
dolcemente (dol-che-men'te), adv. [It., < dolce, 
sweet.] In music, softly and sweetly : noting a 
passage to be so performed: a direction equiv- 
alent to dolce. 
dolciano, dolcina (dol-che-a'no, -che'na), M. 
[It., < dolce, sweet, < L. dulcis, sweet.] A mu- 
sical instrument of the bassoon kind, used in 
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 
dold (dold), n. [See dolt.] Stupid; confused. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
doldrums (dol'drumz), n. pi. [Also in sing. 
doldrum; perhaps connected with dold, stupid: 
see dolt.] 1 . Low spirits ; the dumps : as, he 
is in the doldrums. [Colloq.] 2. Naut., certain 
parts of the ocean near the equator that abound 
in calms, squalls, and light baffling winds; also, 
the calms or variations of weather characteris- 
tic of those parts. The region of the doldrums varies 
in breadth from sixty to several Imnilretl miles, and shifts 
its extreme limits at different seasons between latitude 5 
S. and 15 N. It is overhung at a great height by a per- 
manent belt of cloud, gathered by opposing currents of 
the trade- wiuds. 
Dolabriform Leaf of Mesembri- 
anthtinum ilolabrijortnt. 
