📖 D — The English dictionary · page 59

dubliner — Everyday, meaning 1: A person who is from Dublin, the capital city of Ireland, or who lives there.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: «Dubliners» is also the name of a famous book of stories by James Joyce (1914) and of an Irish folk band, The Dubliners.↗ Example: My granny is a proud Dubliner.↗ · Dubliners are famous for their sense of humour.↗ · As a Dubliner, he knew every street in the city centre.↗ · The Dubliners sang old Irish folk songs.↗ · Lots of Dubliners walk along the River Liffey.↗ · James Joyce wrote a book called «Dubliners».↗

ducat — Everyday, meaning 1: A ducat is an old gold or silver coin used in parts of Europe long ago.↗ Example: He found a purse stuffed with shining ducats.↗ · The miller was paid in ducats for his grain.↗ · The old king counted his ducats every night.↗

duce — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: a broken fragment of a word, part of "produced", caused by a printing break.↗ Example: These Seven Double Letters He designed, pro- duced, and combined, and formed with them the Planets (stars) of this Universe, the Days of the Week, and the Gates of the soul (the orifices of perception) in Man.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗

duchess — Everyday, meaning 1: A duchess is a woman who is married to a duke, or a woman who holds the rank of duke herself.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal, UK) "Duchess" is sometimes a friendly or teasing way to speak to a woman, especially one who seems grand.↗ Example: The Duchess visited a children's hospital.↗ · The Duke and Duchess waved to the crowd.↗ · In the story the duchess wore a dress covered in jewels.↗ · A duchess is addressed as "Your Grace".↗ · The duchess opened the new library.↗ · "Mind your step, Duchess," joked the bus driver.↗ · Meanwhile the Duchess Grumbly was also occupied in attiring herself.↗

duchy — Everyday, meaning 1: A duchy is an area of land ruled by a duke or a duchess.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (UK) The Duchy of Cornwall and the Duchy of Lancaster are special estates of land owned by the British royal family.↗ Example: William was the Duke of Normandy and ruled the duchy.↗ · Luxembourg is a Grand Duchy.↗ · The prince gets money from the Duchy of Cornwall.↗ · The duchy was smaller than a kingdom.↗ · Germany was once made of many duchies and kingdoms.↗ · The duke protected the people of his duchy.↗ · Duchy Originals sells biscuits from royal land.↗ · If only I had a duchy!’↗

duck — Everyday, meaning 1: A duck is a bird with a flat beak and webbed feet that swims and says «quack».↗ A duck has 2 legs.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To duck means to bend down quickly so you are not hit or seen.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: In cricket, a duck is a score of zero.↗ Example: There are 9 ducks on the pond.↗ · 4 more ducks came.↗ · Each duck has 2 legs.↗ · How many ducks are left if 3 fly away?↗ · The duck says quack.↗ · Duck!↗ The ball is coming.↗ · The mother duck led her ducklings to the water.↗ · The batsman was out for a duck.↗ · Out popped the duck and flew away.↗

duckling — Everyday, meaning 1: A duckling is a baby duck.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In stories, an «ugly duckling» is someone who seems plain or awkward at first but grows up to be beautiful or great.↗ Example: Five fluffy ducklings followed their mother to the pond.↗ · The duckling hatched from its egg this morning.↗ · Ducklings can swim soon after they hatch.↗ · We watched the ducklings cross the road safely.↗ · In «The Ugly Duckling», the duckling grows into a swan.↗ · Don't feed the ducklings bread; it is bad for them.↗ · If there were 7 ducklings and 2 waddled away, 5 were left.↗ · "You don't understand me," said the duckling.↗

ducky — Everyday, meaning 1: A ducky is a little duck, a word children use.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (casual) A grown-up may call a dear child «ducky» as a fond name.↗ Example: Ducky-daddles waddled to the pond.↗ · The old woman called the child her little ducky.↗ · The ducky swam in a circle round the pond.↗

duct — Everyday, meaning 1: A pipe or tube that carries air, water, cables or other things inside a building.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (body) A tube in the body that carries liquids, like a tear duct.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: duct tape: very strong sticky cloth tape.↗ Example: Warm air comes through a duct in the floor.↗ · Tears drain from your eyes through tiny tear ducts.↗ · The spy crawled through the air duct.↗ · Dad fixed the broken hose with duct tape.↗ · Mice were living in the heating duct.↗ · Engineers cleaned the ducts in the school roof.↗

dud — Everyday, meaning 1: (informal) Something that does not work properly or is useless, like a firework that does not go off or a dead battery.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) A person or thing that fails or disappoints.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: duds (US, informal, old): clothes.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (military) A bomb or shell that did not explode.↗ Example: The last firework was a dud.↗ · This battery is a dud; let's try another.↗ · The new phone turned out to be a dud.↗ · Never go back to a dud firework: it might explode.↗ · (informal) The film was a dud, and nobody went to see it.↗ · One of the eggs was a dud and did not hatch.↗ · (US, old informal) He put on his best duds for the party.↗

dude — Everyday, meaning 1: (slang) A man or boy; a guy: «He's a cool dude.».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (slang) A friendly way to speak to someone, especially a friend: «Hey, dude!».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (slang, interjection) Used to show surprise, excitement, or annoyance: «Dude!↗ That was amazing!».↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (old, US) A city person who goes on holiday to a ranch: «dude ranch»; or a man who cares a lot about fancy clothes.↗ Example: (slang) Hey dude, want to play footy?↗ · That skateboarder is a cool dude.↗ · Dude!↗ You scored from halfway!↗ · (slang) Dude, that's my seat.↗ · Some dude at the shop gave me the wrong change.↗ · (old US) They spent a week at a dude ranch in Montana.↗

due — Everyday, meaning 1: Due means expected or needing to happen at a certain time, like a library book that is due back on Friday or a baby due next month.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Due means owed: money that must be paid is due.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: «Due to» means because of: the game was cancelled due to rain.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: Due north or due south means exactly in that direction.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: If something is due to someone, they deserve it, as in «show thanks where thanks are due».↗ Example: The book is due back in 14 days.↗ · The amount due is $36.↗ · The homework is due on Monday.↗ · Rent of $500 is due each month.↗ · The train is due in 5 minutes.↗ · The match was cancelled due to heavy rain.↗ · My library book is overdue, so I must take it back.↗ · Walk due north from the gate.↗ · Show gratitude where gratitude is due.↗ · It is a due for ever throughout their generations.↗ (Torah LEV.7.36, JPS 1917)↗ · Cursed be he that perverteth the justice due to the stranger, fatherless, and widow.↗ (Torah DEU.27.19, JPS 1917)↗ · They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which is his due according to the fathers' houses.↗ (Torah DEU.18.8, JPS 1917)↗ · 'Sacrifices of peace-offerings were due from me; this day have I paid my vows.↗ (Writings PRO.7.14, JPS 1917)↗ · All of them wait for Thee, that Thou mayest give them their food in due season.↗ (Writings PSA.104.27, JPS 1917)↗ · The eyes of all wait for Thee, and Thou givest them their food in due season.↗ (Writings PSA.145.15, JPS 1917)↗

duel — Everyday, meaning 1: A duel is a fight between two people, or two animals, to settle a quarrel, usually fought one-to-one with swords or other weapons.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A duel can also be a close contest between two rivals.↗ Example: The two birds fought a fierce duel in the air.↗ · The knight and the giant fought a duel at dawn.↗ · The two runners had a close duel for first place.↗

duet — Everyday, meaning 1: A duet is a piece of music for two singers or two players.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A duet is a performance by two people together.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (rare) To duet means to perform a duet.↗ Example: My sister and I sang a duet at the concert.↗ · The piano duet had four hands on one keyboard.↗ · The birds seemed to sing a duet.↗ · They duetted on a famous love song.↗ · A duet needs two performers.↗ · ‘Now they must sing together; what a duet we shall have!’↗

duff — Everyday, meaning 1: (informal, UK) Duff means bad, useless or not working: a duff battery, a duff idea.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (slang, mainly US) Your duff is your bottom; «get off your duff» means stop being lazy.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (slang, UK) To duff someone up is to beat them up.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A duff is an old-fashioned word for a kind of steamed pudding, as in plum duff.↗ Example: This torch is duff — the batteries must be flat.↗ · He played a duff note in the middle of the song.↗ · That was a duff idea, Tom.↗ · (US slang) Get off your duff and help me clean up!↗ · (UK slang) The bully threatened to duff him up.↗ · We got a duff calculator that kept giving wrong answers.↗ · Grandma made plum duff for pudding.↗

dug — Everyday, meaning 1: Dug is the past form of dig: to make a hole in the ground or move earth with a spade, hands or paws.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Dug can mean searched for and found.↗ e.g. I dug out my old toys.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Dug in means pushed something into something: the cat dug its claws in.↗ Example: The dog dug a hole in the garden.↗ · We dug up potatoes from the vegetable patch.↗ · Archaeologists dug up an old Viking sword.↗ · I dug out my winter coat from the cupboard.↗ · The cat dug its claws into my leg.↗ · The pirates dug for treasure on the island.↗ · Our class dug a pond for frogs.↗ · They dug a little grave in the garden.↗

dugong — Everyday, meaning 1: A dugong is a large, gentle sea mammal with a whale-like tail that grazes on seagrass in warm shallow seas, like a sea cow.↗ Example: The dugong munched seagrass in the shallow water.↗ · Dugongs live in the seas around northern Australia.↗ · A dugong is a mammal, so it breathes air.↗ · Dugongs are protected because they are endangered.↗ · Sailors may have mistaken dugongs for mermaids.↗

dugout — Everyday, meaning 1: A dugout is a canoe made by hollowing out a tree trunk.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A dugout is a shelter dug in the ground, used by soldiers in war.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: In sports, a dugout is the low covered bench area where players and coaches sit.↗ Example: Ancient people paddled down the river in a dugout canoe.↗ · The soldiers slept in a muddy dugout.↗ · The coach shouted from the dugout.↗ · The substitutes waited in the dugout.↗ · A dugout is carved from one big tree trunk.↗ · The museum has a very old dugout found in a lake.↗

duke — Everyday, meaning 1: A duke is a man of the highest rank of the nobility below a prince, in Britain and some other countries; he has a title such as "the Duke of York".↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In history, a duke ruled a small land called a duchy.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (old slang, «dukes») Your dukes are your fists, as in "put up your dukes" (get ready to fight).↗ Example: The Duke of Wellington was a famous general.↗ · The duke lived in a huge castle with a hundred rooms.↗ · Prince William is also the Duke of Cambridge.↗ · The Duke and Duchess waved from the carriage.↗ · In the fairy tale, the duke wanted to marry the princess.↗ · "Put up your dukes!" shouted the cartoon boxer.↗ · The duke's land was called a duchy.↗ · ‘Choose, then,’ said the Duke, ‘whichever you prefer.’↗ · 7, Duke Street, Adelphi, London, W.C, (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗

dull — Everyday, meaning 1: Dull means boring, not interesting or exciting.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Dull means not bright or shiny, like a grey sky or faded colours.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A dull blade or pencil is not sharp.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A dull sound or pain is not sharp or clear but soft and heavy.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: To dull something is to make it less strong or less bright.↗ Example: The film was so dull that I fell asleep.↗ · It was a dull, grey morning.↗ · This knife is dull; it won't cut the bread.↗ · I heard a dull thud from upstairs.↗ · He had a dull pain in his tooth.↗ · Polish the dull spoons until they shine.↗ · With my little brother around, there's never a dull moment.↗ · The medicine dulled the pain.↗ · Soon he found life in the pasture very dull.↗ · then the priest shall look; and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be of a dull white, it is a tetter, it hath broken out in the skin: he is clean.↗ (Torah LEV.13.39, JPS 1917)↗ · Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed dull in your sight?↗ (Writings JOB.18.3, JPS 1917)↗ · Behold, their ear is dull, and they cannot attend; behold, the word of the LORD is become unto them a reproach, they have no delight in it.↗ (Prophets JER.6.10, JPS 1917)↗

dullard — Everyday, meaning 1: A dullard is a slow or stupid person, one who seems not clever.↗ Example: Everyone called him a dullard, but he was clever.↗ · Now came the turn of Jack the Dullard.↗ · Don't be a dullard; think before you speak.↗

dullness — Everyday, meaning 1: Dullness is the state of being dull: not bright, not lively, not interesting.↗ Example: The dullness of the grey sky made the picnic sad.↗ · The peacock mocked the dullness of the crane's feathers.↗ · Nobody enjoyed the dullness of the long wet afternoon.↗