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Discipline (A). A scourge used by Roman Catholics for penitential purposes.
"Before the cross and altar a lamp was still burning, and on the floor lay a small discipline or
penitential scourge of small cord and wire, the lashes of which were stained with recent blood."
- Sir W Scott: The Talisman. chap. iv
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Discord means severance of hearts (Latin, discorda). It is the opposite of concord, the coming together
of hearts. In music it means disagreement of sounds, as when a note is followed by another which is
disagreeable to a musical ear. (See Apple.)
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Dispute (2 syl.) means, literally, to "lop down" (Latin, dis-puto); debate means to "knock down" (French,
débattre); discuss means to "shake down" (Latin, dis-quatio); object' is to "cast against" (Latin,
ob-jacio); contend is to "pull against" (Latin, contendo); quarrel is to throw darts at each other (Welsh,
cwarel, a dart); and wrangle is to strain by twisting (Swedish, vränga; Anglo-Saxon, wringan).
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Distemper means an undue mixture. In medicine a distemper arises from the redundancy of certain
secretions or morbid humours. The distemper in dogs is an undue quantity of secretions manifested by a
running from the eyes and nose. (Latin, dis-tempero, to mix amiss.)
Applied to painting, the word is from another source, the French détremper (to soak in water), because
the paints, instead of being mixed with oil, are mixed with a vehicle (as yolk of eggs or glue) soluble in
water.
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Divine Pagan (The). Hypatia, who presided over the Neoplatonic School at Alexandria. She was
infamously torn to pieces (A.D. 415) by a Christian mob, not without the concurrence of the Archbishop
Cyril.
One of the few female scientists of antiquity.
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Doff is do-off, as "Doff your hat." So don is do-ou, as "Don your clothes." Dup is do-up, as "Dup the
door" (q.v.).
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Dorset Once the seat of a British tribe, calling themselves Dwr-trigs (water-dwellers). The Romans
colonised the settlement, and Latinised Dwr-trigs into Duro-triges. Lastly came the Saxons, and
translated the original words into their own tongue, dor-sætta (water-dwellers).
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Doss A hassock stuffed with straw; a bed - properly, a straw bed; whence the cant word for a
lodging-house is a dossingken. Dossel is an old word for a bundle of hay or straw, and dosser for a straw
basket. These words were common in Elizabeth's reign. The French dossier means a "bundle."
Doss-house (A). A cheap lodging-house where the poorer classes sleep on bundles of straw. (See above.)
In the New Review (Aug., 1894) there is an article entitled "In a Woman's Doss-house," which throws
much light on the condition of the poor in London.
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Dovetail Metaphorically, to fit on or fit in nicely; to correspond. It is a word in carpentry, and means the
fitting one board into another by a tenon in the shape of a dove's tail, or wedge reversed.
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Doxy A baby; a plaything; a paramour. In the West of England babies are called doxies.
I somewhere a long time ago read that "doxie" meant a prostitute who solicited sailors
on the docks as they disembarked. The only support I could find for this is below:
1839
Marriages at Stepney Church
The author casts a satirical eye on wedding customs, as practised
at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, in 1839: an unfortunate young couple
caught by the bride's parents, couples married en masse, tars and
doxies and bigamous marriages. The source of the article was not
given.
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