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D, subs. (common)—1. A penny, or (in pl.) pence; e.g., two d; three d, etc., = two-pence, three-pence, etc. [The initial letter of the Latin denarius.]
1880. Punch's Almanack, p. 3. Got the doldrums dreadful, that is clear. Two d left! must go and do a beer!
2. (common).—A detective; among thieves, a policeman. For synonyms, see Beak and Nark.
1879. Thor Fredur, Sketches from Shady Places. Still I play Shoeblack odd times. I have a few friends among the d's (detectives), who give me the job to watch a house occasionally.
To use a big d, verbal phr. (common).—'To swear'; the 'd' stands for 'damned.'
1878. Gilbert and Sullivan, Her Majesty's Ship 'Pinafore.' What, never use a big, big d?'
1890. H. D. Traill, Saturday Songs, p. 3. Do we fight the senseless duel, do we sling the big, big d, No; our strongest word is 'Bother,' and revolvers all we see.
The two d's, phr. (military).—Army regulations enact that a soldier's pay must not be so docked in fines as to leave him less than two-pence a day. Hence, if a man, from any cause, is put on short pay, he is said to be 'on the two d's.'
Dab, subs. (colloquial).—1. An expert; a dabster. [Thought to be a corruption of 'adept' (Latin adeptus) a dep; a dap; a dab.] Cf., 'dabbler,' one who meddles without mastery; a superficial meddler. Fr., dab, dabe, or dade.
1733. Letter of Lord Chesterfield to Lady Suffolk, 17 Aug. [Suffolk Correspondence, 1824, ii., 64.]. . . known dabs at finding out mysteries.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Dab (s.) . . . also an expert gamester is so called [also 1754, Martin, Eng. Dict. (2 ed.), s.v.].
1759. Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 1. One writer, for instance, excels at a plan or a title-page, another works away the body of the book, and a third is a dab at an index.
1838. Comic Almanack, p. 148. Such a dab to get up a commission.
1849. J. D. Lewis, in Whibley, p. 231. When Hicks, who's no dab, with his oar cuts a crab, And our coxswain he swears like the devil.
1860. Dickens, Great Expectations, ch. xlii., p. 200. He was a smooth one to talk, and was a dab at the ways of gentlefolks.
2. (common).—A bed. For synonyms, see Bug-walk and Kip.
