D

[daily dozen] Go to one’s daily dozen.

the daily grind [someone’s] everyday work

routine. (Informal.) I’m getting very

tired of the daily grind. When my va-

cation was over, I had to go back to the

daily grind.

damn someone or something with faint praise

to criticize someone or something indi-

rectly by not praising enthusiastically.

The critic did not say that he disliked the

play, but he damned it with faint praise.

Mrs. Brown is very proud of her son’s

achievements, but damns her daughter’s

with faint praise.

dance to another tune to shift to a dif-

ferent kind of behavior; to change one’s

behavior or attitude. (See also change

someone’s tune; sing a different tune.)

After being yelled at, Ann danced to an-

other tune. A stern talking-to will make

her dance to another tune.

dance with death to attempt to do some-

thing that is very risky. The crossing of

the border into Adonia was like dancing

with death. You are dancing with death

in your effort to cross that narrow ledge.

dare someone (to do something) to challenge

someone to do something. Sally dared

Jane to race her to the corner.  You

wouldn’t do that, would you? I dare you.

dark horse someone or something whose

abilities, plans, or feelings are little

known to others. (From horse racing.)

It’s difficult to predict who will win the

prize—there are two or three dark horses

in the tournament. Everyone was sur-

prised at the results of the election. The

dark horse won.

darken someone’s door [for an unwelcome

person] to come to someone’s door seek-

ing entry. (As if the unwelcome visitor

were casting a shadow on the door. For-

mal or jocular.) Who is this who has

come to darken my door? Is that you,

John, darkening my door again? I thought

you were out of town. The heroine of the

drama told the villain never to darken her

door again. She touched the back of her

hand to her forehead and said, “Go, and

never darken my door again!”

dart in and out [for something moving] to

dart quickly between two things, or into

a number of things, and move away

again. On the highway, a small car was

darting in and out of the two right lanes of

traffic. A small bird darted in and out

of the bush, probably going into a nest

inside.

dash cold water on something Go to pour

cold water on something.

dash something off to send something off,

usually quickly. I’ll dash a quick note

off to Aunt Mary. T Ann just dashed off

a message to her parents.

date back (to sometime) to extend back to

a particular time; to have been alive at a

particular time in the past. My late

grandmother dated back to the Civil War.

This record dates back to the sixties.

How far do you date back?

Davy Jones’s locker the bottom of the sea,

especially when it is a grave. (From the

seamen’s name for the evil spirit of the

sea. See also go to Davy Jones’s locker.)

They were going to sail around the

world, but ended up in Davy Jones’s locker.

Most of the gold from that trading ship

is in Davy Jones’s locker.

day after day every day; daily; all the time.

He wears the same clothes day after day.

She visits her husband in the hospital

day after day.

day and night and night and day all the

time; around the clock. The nurse was

with her day and night. The house is

guarded night and day.

day in and day out and day in, day out

on every day; for each day. She smokes

day in and day out. They eat nothing

but vegetables, day in, day out.

day in, day out Go to day in and day out.

day-to-day daily; everyday; common.

They update their accounts on a day-to-

day basis. Just wear your regular day-

to-day clothing.

[days are numbered] Go to one’s days are

numbered.

dead ahead straight ahead; directly ahead.

Look out! There is a cow in the road

dead ahead. The farmer said that the

town we wanted was dead ahead.

dead and buried gone forever. (Refers lit-

erally to persons and figuratively to ideas

and other things.) Now that memories

of Uncle Bill are dead and buried, we can

throw away his old boots. That kind of

thinking is dead and buried.

dead as a dodo Go to (as) dead as a dodo.

dead as a doornail Go to (as) dead as a

doornail.

a dead duck someone or something that

is failed, finished, or nearly dead. He

missed the exam. He’s a dead duck. Yes,

John’s a dead duck. He drove his car into

a tree.

dead in someone’s or something’s tracks

stopped exactly where someone or some-

thing is at the moment. (This does not

usually have anything to do with death.

The phrase is often used with stop.)

Her unkind words stopped me dead in my

tracks. When I heard the rattlesnake, I

stopped dead in my tracks. The project

came to a halt dead in its tracks.

a dead loss a total loss. My investment

was a dead loss. This car is a dead loss.

It was a waste of money.

dead on its feet and dead on one’s feet

exhausted; worn out; no longer useful.

Ann is so tired. She’s really dead on her

feet. He can’t teach well anymore. He’s

dead on his feet. This inefficient com-

pany is dead on its feet.

dead on one’s feet Go to dead on its feet.

dead set against someone or something totally

opposed to someone or something. (See

also one’s heart is (dead) set against some-

thing.) I’m dead set against the new tax

proposal. Everyone is dead set against

the mayor.

deaf and dumb unable to hear or speak.

(Used without any intended malice, but

no longer considered polite. Sometimes

euphemized as “hearing and speech im-

paired.”) Fred objected to being called

deaf and dumb. Aunt Clara—she was

deaf and dumb, you know—lived to be

over 100.

deaf as a post Go to (as) deaf as a post.

deal in something to buy and sell something.

My uncle is a stockbroker. He deals in

stocks and bonds.  My aunt deals in

antiques.

death and taxes death, which is inevitable,

and the payment of taxes, which is un-

avoidable. (A saying that emphasizes the

rigor with which taxes are collected.)

There is nothing as certain on this old

planet as death and taxes. Max said he

could get out of anything except death and

taxes.

death on someone or something 1. very effec-

tive in acting against someone or some-

thing. This road is terribly bumpy. It’s

death on tires. The sergeant is death on

lazy soldiers. 2. [with something] accurate

or deadly at doing something requiring

skill or great effort. John is death on

curve balls. He’s our best pitcher. The

boxing champ is really death on those fast

punches.

decide in favor of someone or something to

determine that someone or something is

the winner. The judge decided in favor

of the defendant. I decided in favor of

the red one.

deem that it is necessary Go to deem it

(to be) necessary.

[deepest sympathy] Go to one’s deepest

sympathy.

a den of iniquity a place filled with

wickedness. The town was a den of in-

iquity and vice was everywhere. Police

raided the gambling house, calling it a den

of iniquity.

desert a sinking ship and leave a sink-

ing ship to leave a place, a person, or a

situation when things become difficult or

unpleasant. (Rats are said to be the first

to leave a ship that is sinking.) I hate

to be the one to desert a sinking ship, but

I can’t stand it around here anymore.

There goes Tom. Wouldn’t you know he’d

leave a sinking ship rather than stay

around and try to help?

devil-may-care attitude and devil-may-

care manner a very casual attitude; a

worry-free or carefree attitude. You

must get rid of your devil-may-care atti-

tude if you want to succeed. She acts so

thoughtlessly with her devil-may-care

manner.

devil-may-care manner Go to devil-may-

care attitude.

a devil of a job and the devil’s own job

the most difficult task. (Informal.) We

had a devil of a job fixing the car. It was

the devil’s own job finding a hotel with

vacancies.

the devil’s own job Go to devil of a job.

a diamond in the rough a valuable or po-

tentially excellent person or thing hidden

by an unpolished or rough exterior.

Ann looks like a stupid woman, but she’s

a fine person—a real diamond in the

rough. That piece of property is a dia-

mond in the rough. Someday it will be

valuable.

die a natural death 1. [for someone] to

die by disease or old age rather than by

violence or foul play. I hope to live to

100 and die a natural death. The po-

lice say she didn’t die a natural death, and

they are investigating. 2. [for something]

to fade away or die down. I expect that

all this excitement about computers will

die a natural death. Most fads die a nat-

ural death.

die in one’s boots and die with one’s boots

on to go down fighting; to die in some

fashion other than in bed; to die fighting.

(A cliché popularized by western movies.

The villains of these movies said they

preferred death by gunshot or hanging to

dying in bed. See also go down fighting.)

I won’t let him get me. I’ll die in my

boots. He may give me a hard time, but

I won’t be overcome. I’ll fight him and die

with my boots on.

The die is cast. some process is past the

point of no return. (This die is one of a

pair of dice. This cast means “thrown.”)

After that speech favoring reform of the

education system, the die is cast. This is

now a campaign issue. The die is cast.

There is no turning back on this point.

die laughing 1. to meet one’s death laugh-

ing—in good spirits, revenge, or irony.

Sally is such an optimist that she’ll proba-

bly die laughing. Bob tried to poison his

rich aunt, who then died laughing because

she had taken Bob out of her will. 2. to

laugh very long and hard. (Informal.)

The joke was so funny that I almost died

laughing.  The play was meant to be

funny, but the audience didn’t exactly die

laughing.

die of a broken heart 1. to die of emo-

tional distress. I was not surprised to

hear of her death. They say she died of a

broken heart. In the movie, the heroine

appeared to die of a broken heart, but the

audience knew she was poisoned. 2. to suf-

fer from emotional distress, especially

from a failed romance. Tom and Mary

broke off their romance and both died of

broken hearts. Please don’t leave me. I

know I’ll die of a broken heart.

die of boredom to suffer from boredom;

to be very bored. No one has ever really

died of boredom. We sat there and lis-

tened politely, even though we almost died

of boredom.

die on someone 1. [for someone] to die

while in someone’s care. The ambu-

lance driver didn’t want his patient to die

on him. “Come on, don’t die on me!”

cried the emergency room doctor. 2. [for

something, such as a car engine] to stop

running while one is using it. My car

just died on me. His computer keeps dy-

ing on him.

die on the vine Go to wither on the vine.

die with one’s boots on Go to die in one’s

boots.

different as night and day Go to (as) dif-

ferent as night and day.

dig in 1. to eat a meal; to begin eating a

meal. (Informal. See also Come and get

it!) Dinner’s ready, Tom. Sit down and

dig in. The cowboy helped himself to

some beans and dug in. 2. to apply one-

self to a task; to tackle (something) vig-

orously. Sally looked at the big job

ahead of her. Then she rolled up her sleeves

and dug in. “Tom,” hollered Mrs. Smith,

“you get to that pile of homework and dig

in this very minute.”

dig one’s heels in to refuse to alter one’s

course of action or opinions; to be ob-

stinate or determined. The student dug

her heels in and refused to obey the in-

structions. I’m digging in my heels. I’m

not going back.

dig one’s own grave to be responsible for

one’s own downfall or ruin. The man-

ager tried to get rid of his assistant, but he

dug his own grave. He got fired himself for

trying. The committee has dug its own

grave with the new tax bill.

dig someone or something to understand some-

thing; to relate to a person or a thing.

(Slang.) I really dig Tom. He’s a special

guy. I really dig rock music.

dig someone or something up to go to great ef-

fort to find someone or something.

(There is an implication that the thing or

person dug up is not the most desirable,

but is all that could be found.) Mary

dug a date up for the dance next Friday.

T I dug up a recipe for roast pork with

pineapple. T I dug up a carpenter who

doesn’t charge very much.

dig something out to work hard to locate

something and bring it forth. (Also lit-

eral.) They dug the contract out of the

file cabinet. I dug this old suit out of a

box in the attic. T I dug out an old dress

and wore it to the fifties party.

dine out Go to eat (a meal) out.

dip in(to something) to take or borrow from

a supply of something, especially a sup-

ply of money. (Also literal.) I had to

dip into my savings account to pay for the

car. I hate to dip in like that. She put

out her hand and dipped into the choco-

late box.

dirt cheap extremely cheap. (Informal.)

Buy some more of those plums. They’re

dirt cheap. In Italy, the peaches are dirt

cheap.

dirty old man an older man who is exces-

sively interested in sex. Tell your

daughter to stay away from him. He’s a

dirty old man and might attack her.

There were several dirty old men looking

at pornographic magazines in the park.

dirty one’s hands Go to get one’s hands

dirty.

divide and conquer to cause the enemy

to split into two or more warring fac-

tions, and then move in to conquer all of

them. Mary thought she could divide

and conquer the board of directors, but

they had survived such tactics many times,

and her efforts failed. Sam led his men

to divide and conquer the enemy platoon,

and his strategy succeeded.

divide something fifty-fifty and split some-

thing fifty-fifty to divide something into

two equal parts. (Informal. Each fifty

means 50 percent.) Tommy and Billy

divided the candy fifty-fifty. The rob-

bers split the money fifty-fifty.