Heading
1886. John Coleman, in Temple Bar, Feb., p. 225. During his management of the dusthole (since known as 'The Prince of Wales's'), in Tottenham Court Road.
2. (University).—Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Obsolete.
Dustman, subs. (common).—1. A
personification of sleep: 'the
dustman's coming' = you are
getting sleepy. Cf., dust in
the eyes.
1821. Pierce Egan, Tom and Jerry, p. 111. A social glass of wine beguiled an hour or two, till the dustman made his appearance and gave the hint to Tom and Jerry that it was time to visit their beds.
2. (old).—A dead man.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
Dusty. Not so dusty, adv. phr.
(common).—A term of approval;
'not so bad'; 'so-so.'
1854. F. E. Smedley, Harry Coverdale, ch. xlii. 'Why is the fact of the contents of a backgammon-board having been thrown out of the window like Milton's chef d'œuvre?' Do you give it up? 'Because it's a pair o'dice lost.' None so dusty that—eh? for a commoner like me?
1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 28. 'Well, my dear,' said Butters in the most patronising way, 'I know I'm not so dusty, and if it wasn't for my disgusting weight I'd pretty soon let 'em see at Newmarket what I can do.'
Dusty-Bob, subs. (common).—A
scavenger.
Dustypoll or Dusty-nob, subs.
(old).—A miller. [Dusty, =
floury, + poll, or nob = the head.]
Dutch. An epithet of inferiority.
A witness, no doubt, to the long-*standing
hatred engendered by
the bitter fight for the supremacy
of the seas between England and
Holland in the seventeenth century.
Subs. (common).—A wife. [Probably an abbreviation of Dutch clock.]
English Synonyms.—Mollisher; rib; grey-mare; warming-pan; splice; lawful blanket; autem-mort; comfortable impudence; comfortable importance; old woman; evil; missus; lawful jam; yoke-fellow; night-cap; legitimate, or legiti; weight-carrier; mutton-bone; ordinary; pillow-mate; supper-table; Dutch clock; chattel; sleeping-partner; doxy; cooler; mount; bed-fagot.
French Synonyms.—Une marque de cé (thieves'); une légitime (fam. = legitimate); mon gouvernement (pop. = my old woman); mon associée (printers' = my partner); mon bien (popular, bien = chattel); une gerce (thieves': also a mattress).
German Synonyms.—Keibe, Keibel, Keife (also = woman or concubine: from O. H. G. Chebisa, M. H. G. Kebese, Kebse = illegitimate); Krönerin (literally a 'horneress'; Kröne = to be provided with horns); Rammenin (Hanoverian: from the gypsy romnin).
To do a dutch, verb. phr. (military).—To desert; to run away. For synonyms, see Amputate.
That beats the Dutch, phr. (common).—A sarcastic superlative.
1775. Revolutionary Song [New Eng. Hist., Reg. Ap. 1857], p. 191. And besides all the mortars, bombs, cannons, and shells, And bullets and guns, as the
