555 
DAB 
Weftphatia, and bifhopric of Paderburn : nine miles 
north-north-eaft of Warburg. 
To DAB, v. a. [ dauber, Fr.] To (trike gently with 
fomething foft or moift.—A fore Ihould never be wiped 
by drawing a piece of tow or rag over it, but only by 
dabbing it with fine lint. Sharp. 
DAB, f [from the verb ] A fmall lump of any 
thing. A blow with fomething moilt or foft. Some¬ 
thing moift or (limy thrown upon one. A kind of fmall 
flat filh ; the limanda. See Plf.uronectes. —Of flat fifh 
there are rays, flowks, dabs, plaice. Carew. —[From adep- 
tus, Lat.] A clever perfon, one well (killed in a parti¬ 
cular art or fcience. A vulgar corruption of the word 
adept. 
DAB'AREH, a city of Palefline, in the tribe of HTa- 
char, and one of the cities of the Levites of the family 
of Gerflion. JoJh. xxi. 28. 
DAB'BASHETH, [Heb. abounding in honey], A 
town of Palefline, in the tribe of Zebulon, fituated upon 
the borders of that province. JoJh. xix. 11. 
To DA 1 BBLE, v. a. [dabbelen , Dutch.] To fmear ; 
to daub ; to fpatter ; to befprinkle ; to wet.—I fcarified 
and dabbled the wound with oil of turpentine. Wijhnan. 
A fliadow like an angel, with bright hair, 
Babbled in blood. Shakefpeare. 
To DA'BBLE, v. n. To play in water; to move in 
water or mud.—Neither will a fpirit, that dwells with 
liars, dabble in this impurer mud. Glanville. 
But when he found the boys at play, 
And faw them dabbling in their clay, 
He flood behind a flail to lurk, 
And mark the progrefs of their work. Swift. 
To do any thing in a flight, fuperficial, or (hallow, man¬ 
ner ; to tamper.—Shakefpeare (hall be put into your 
hands as clear and as fair as it came out of them : though 
you, I think, have been dabbling here and there with 
the text. Atterbury to Pope. 
DA'BBLER,y.' [from dabble. ] One that plays in wa¬ 
ter. One that meddles without maflery ; one that never 
goes to the bottom of an affair ; a fuperficial meddler. 
—He dares not complain of the tooth-ach, left our dab¬ 
blers in politics lliould be ready to fwear againft him for 
difaffedtion. Swift. 
DA'BCHICK, f A fmall water-fowl ; called like- 
wife dobchick, didapper, and dipchick. See Colymbus. 
A dabchick waddles through the copfe 
On feet and wings, and flies, and wades, and hops. Pope. 
DAB'ERATH, [Heb a word-] A town of Palefline, 
jn the tribe of Zebulon, fituated upon the borders of 
that province. J0//1. xix. 12. 
DAB'HAUSEN, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
the Upper Rhine, and principality of Solms Braunfels; 
near it are mines of copper: eight miles north-weft of 
Wetzlar. 
DA'BIA, a town of Egypt : twenty-one miles fouth 
of Cairo. 
DA'BO, or Dachsperg, a towm of France in the de¬ 
partment of the Meurte, fituated on the mountains of 
Vofges, near the fource of the Sarre: feven miles fouth- 
fouth-weft of Savern. 
DABOE'CIA,yi in botany. See Andromeda. 
DA'BRA SHIN, a town of Egypt: twelve miles fouth 
of Cairo. 
DA'BUL, a town of India, on the coaft of Concab, 
taken and facked by the Portuguefe, under the conduct 
of Brandin, in the year 1555. They let fire to it in four 
places, and brutally put to the fivvord the defencelels 
lex, and innocent children ; but it was taken again by 
the natives. The principal commerce is in pepper and 
fait : feventy-five miles fouth of Bombay. Lat. 17. 52. 
N. Icr. 72. 53. E. Greenwich. 
DABUZE, /. A kind of mace borne before the grand 
ft gnjor. 
DAG 
DAC'CA, a city of Hindooftan, in the coun'ry of 
Bengal, fituated on a river of the fame name, which is a 
branch of the Ganges. The weaving manufacture, the 
important bulinefs of India, is carried to a perfection 
here unknown in other parts ; for which reafon the 
Englifh have always a refident in this place. The muf- 
lins are of a moll exquifite finenefs : thofe which were 
made for the mogul and his zenanah, or feraglio, fays 
Mrs. Kinderlley, were ten times the price of any which 
were allowed to be made for European or other mer¬ 
chants. Embroidery and needle-work are carried on here 
to elegant perfection, which none but the fupple fingers 
of an Indian could attain to. The filligree-work done by 
this people is inimitable, for the fame natural caufe. Im- 
menfe labour is bellowed on the hookers, or fuperb 
fmoking apparatus of the ladies of the zenanah ; as 
well as on thofe of the great men of Hindooftan. At 
Dacca is an eflablifliment of boats for the defence of the 
river, againft pirates and robbers; and it was once the 
capital of Bengal, and defended with a (Irong fortrefs, 
the remains of which appear; it is now the third in 
point of (ize and number of inhabitants, and capital of 
a diflriiSl. The country round is always covered with 
verdure, and not fubject to fuch violent heat as in fome 
other parts of Bengal : 120 miles eall-louth-eaft of Moor- 
lliedabad, and 128 north-eaft of Calcutta. I.at. 23.43. N. 
Ion. go. 30. E. Greenwich. 
DACE,yi [of uncertain derivation : in mod provinces 
called dare. Lcucifats .] A fmall river filh, refembling a. 
roach. See Cyprinus. 
Let me live harmlefsly, and near the brink 
Of Trent or Avon have a dwelling place ; 
Where I may fee my quill or cork down fink 
With eager bite of perch, or bleak, or dace. Walton. 
DACHAU', a town of Germany, in the circle and 
duchy of Bavaria, fituated on an eminence, near the 
Ammer, with a feat of the elector : ten miles north-weft 
of Munich. 
DACHS'BACH, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Franconia, and principality of Culmbach: twenty-two 
miles fouth of Bamberg. 
DACH'STEIN, a town of France, in the department 
of the Lower Rhine, taken by the allies in 1610, and by 
the Swedes in 1633 : eight miles weft of Strafburg. 
DACH'STUL, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
the Upper Rhine, and principal place of a lord fir i p>, 
which gives the poftelfor a feat and voice at the diets of 
the circle, but not of the empire. It pays fixteen flo¬ 
rins for a Roman month, and is taxed ten rixdollars fe- 
venty-three kreutzers to the Imperial chamber: twenty- 
two miles fouth-eaft of Treves. 
DA'CI, or DA'CZE, a warlike nation of Germany, 
beyond the Danube, whole country, called Dacia, was 
conquered by the Romans under Trajan, after a war of 
fifteen years, A.D. 103. Dacia is now the modern Mol¬ 
davia. Lucan. 
DACI'ER, ( Andrew,) a man of letters, fon of a pro- 
teftant advocate in the chamber of the edict at Caftres, 
where he was born, in 1651. He ftudied in the college 
of his native place till its direction was given to the Je- 
fuits, and afterwards removed to Saumur, where he 
completed his education under the celebrated Tannegui 
le Fevre. He formed an attachment to the learned 
daughter of his tutor, whom he married in 1683; and 
two years afterwards they both renounced Calvinifm, 
and conformed to the Roman catholic faith. He became 
known to the learned world, in 1681, by his Delphin 
editions of Pompeius Feftus, and Verrius Flaccus; and 
in the fame year he publilhed a new profe tranflation of 
Horace, with critical remarks, which were greatly aug¬ 
mented in the edition of 1709, in ten volumes, ijmo. 
This tranflation, though heavy and ungraceful, was 
much read, which Boileau attributes to the curiofity lie 
himfelf had excited in the French public with refpedt 
to 
