A-Z Database
To dither, prevaricate or hide away, as in aping the antics of a duck, dates from the mid-20th century. Some sources allege that it is rhyming slang f...
see Like a duck to water
To duck someone or plunge into water dates from the 14th century, as does the meaning to bend or stoop quickly. Both these meanings stem from the anti...
Ducks and drakes is an old English pastime consisting in throwing a flat stone or the like over the surface of water so that it skips as many times as...
To have one’s ducks in a row is to be prepared and organised in advance. The expression originated in America during the 1930s and the allusion either...
‘Dud’ in the sense of something that fails to work or function dates from the early 19th century, and two such items would both be ‘duds’, but ‘duds’...
‘Dude’ is American slang and now generally refers to a guy or a fellow, as in ‘a cool dude’, a term of approbation, which became popular surfer slang...
see High dudgeon
Due diligence is an expression usually used in law or business to mean reasonable care and caution in buying, selling, investigating, or giving profes...
Since the mid-18th century, a duffer is one who peddles sham or fake merchandise. From this, the adjective duff took on the meaning of something that...
Some of us will remember the duffle coats with toggles that were popular during the 1960s. Duffle is an anglicised form of Duffel, the town in modern...
Rhyming slang for fork, Duke of York/fork, dates from the late 19th century. See also Dukes.
Dukes is American boxing and street fighting slang for fists, dates from the mid-19th century and gives rise to the expression ‘put up your dukes’, wh...
Like carpe diem this aphorism from the Roman poet Horace (65-8 BC) is better known in the original Latin than its English translation, “It is sweet an...
see Dull as ditchwater/dishwater