Page:Glossary of words in use in Cornwall.djvu/401

40 THE DIALECT OK DrysideB, the word well known, but the meaning not precisely defined. Some say ' a witty or humorous man/ others ' a grasper.* Dnbfl, I, e, doubles. When boys shoot at marbles in a ring and knock out more than one, they have to put the rest back unless they cry duba, Dudmaiistoiie, th3 proper name of a place near Honley, usually, but erroneously, called Deadmanstone, A 'dudman' is a scarecrow, or ragged fellow, and 'duds' are rags or clothes. Gunning, in his Itemimscences of Cambridge, voL i. p. 169, says, speakiug of Stourbridge Fair, * Another row of booths was called ** The Duddesy." These contained woollen cloths from Yorkshire and the western counties of England.* The word dudds occurs in Peebles to the Playy 1. 35 : ' Among you merchants my dudds do,* &c. Duff, vh, neut, to be afraid; also vh. (xct. to frighten. * Tha's duj^fd on it,' 1. 6. given in. Duff, or Duffer, one short of pluck; a coward, or fooL [Duff is a variation of O.Eng. da^e. * Thou doted daffe ' occurs in Piers Plow- man, B. 1. 138.--W. W. S.] This is comparatively a new word in this district. Dule, devil, or demon. The word is not much used now, but the proverb is well known, ' Better have a dtde nor a dawkin/ i, e. an evil spirit than a fooL This saying probably originated with one who had suffered only from the ' dawkm.' ' Dun, used for do in interrogative sentences. ' Dun yo think sooal ' ». c. * Do you think so P ' Dunneck, or Dunnook, the Hedge-sparrow, Accentor modtdaris. [The word means the little dun bird.— W. W. 8.] Dusk o' dark, an expression used for the faint light just before night begins. Dutch, 85. and adj, language — scientific, technical, or otherwise — which cannot be easily understood. * To talk Dutch * is to speak in a more refined tongue than the ordinary dialect. The phrase ' as Dutch as a mastiff ' is used of one who has done some mischief and assumes the air of innocence. In the south I have heard it said of children, when they gabble in the unknown tongue of childhood, that they talk Double Dutch. Dyke. See Dike. E Ea. When this combination of vowels occurs it generally forms two syllables, where in classical English it forms but one; thus, brfid, dc&f, JUd. Uad {sK and vK), sweUt, ted, whcdt^ &c. But breadth and