to drizzle or sprinkle with water (e.g. to water plants). Yorkshire/Lancashire dialect.
DOY#
a loved one. Yorkshire dialect. Possible from “joy”, making it similar to Scots JO?
DOF#
stupid, from Afrikaans. See also doublet DOWF, which is also a noun where DOF is not. Beloved of the writers on School of Comedy.
Loan Words
DAK
from Hindi, the mail-post relay system formerly used in India. Also DAWK
DAL
from Hindi, lentils and the dish made of them. Also DAAL, DAHL, and DHAL
DEV
from Hindi, a god. Also DEVA. Or possibly from Farsi, an evil spirit. Also DIV, DEEV. Also a contraction of “developer” or “development”.
DIV#
from Farsi, an evil spirit. Also DEV, DEEV. Also the mathematical function.
DUM
from Hindi, a method of cooking food with steam.
DEY
from Turkish via French. A former North African ruler, from Turkish dai, maternal uncle. The titular appellation of the commanding officer of the Janissaries of Algiers, who, after having for some time shared the supreme power with the pasha or Turkish civil governor, in 1710 deposed the latter, and became sole ruler. Until themselves deposed and replaced by BEYs again, around 1830.
DSO#
DZO#
= ZO. From Tibetan. A cross between a yak (presumably a domestic yak, B. grunniens, rather than a wild yak B. mutus) and a cow, also ZHO and DZHO (for the infertile males of the breed- Haldane’s rule strikes again), and JOMO, and ZHOMO (for the fertile females). Also known as a YAKOW.
Nonsense (verbs)
DAG
The clotted tufts of wool around a sheep’s bum, and the act of removing them. More familiar in the derived Australian sense of an unfashionable or uncool person, of which I was delighted to learn the etymological root.
DAW
To dawn. Lately (since 1600 or so) in Scots only. Is it still current, who knows?
DAP DOP# DIB
All seem related to DIP, particularly in the sense of fishing by allowing the bait to dip onto the water. None of them current. Note that using a DIBBER is to DIBBLE not to DIB.
DOD#
To make the top or head of (anything) blunt, rounded, or bare; hence, to clip or poll the hair of (a person); to deprive (an animal) of its horns; to poll or lop (a tree), etc.; also figurative to behead. Although if the OED citations can be trusted, most recently used to mean… DAG. And of course by “most recently” I don’t mean in the last 150 years.
DOR
To mock, befool, confound. Last citation 1675, well before the QUIZ era. Also DORR
DOW
To do well, thrive, or prosper. Last citation 1855. Last citation not from a dictionary of dialect words, 1758. Also DOCHT or DOUGHT, but conjugates only as DOWED, DOWING, DOWS. Is this related to as in DOUGHTY?
DUP
To open (a door or gate). Seems to be a contraction of “do up (the portcullis)” in the same way as doff, don, etc.
Nonsense (nouns)
DEL
An operator in differential calculus. ∇. Also NABLA. For a brief period during my studies, I knew all about how to use the del operator. But that period did not extend as far as the exams, let alone until today, so I direct interested parties to the wikipedia page.
In 1940, James D. Hardy, Harold G. Wolff and Helen Goodell of Cornell University introduced the first dolorimeter as a method for evaluating the effectiveness of analgesic medications… They developed a pain scale, called the “Hardy-Wolff-Goodell” scale, with 10 gradations, or 10 levels, [named] “dols”. Other researchers were not able to reproduce the results… and the device and the approach were abandoned.
DUX#
Collins highlights the sense: the best academic performer in a school class. Supposedly used in Scotland, but all the recent uses I see online are from Liberia. Other senses relate to dukes, leaders, and in music the leading voice in a fugue or canon.
Much higher nonsense-density here than with B or C. Let’s keep DAG, DEL, and DUX, and cast the rest of these last 13 into the void.
