Victorian England Slang Words Starting With "D" Quiz

Answer: coat, waistcoat and trousers of the same fabric

The 1874 "Slang Dictionary" says: "Dittoes, A suit of coat, waistcoat, and trousers of the same material." Earlier in the 19th Century, it had been just as common to have them of different colors, but then colors became more uniform and drab, with no more fancy vests or large-plaid trousers. People needed a new term for the new style.

"Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present," 1891, gave an example of use: "A slight, dark man, of middle height, clad in an ordinary suit of Dittoes, entered the room." (Hawley Smart, Social Sintiers, 1880.)

Answer: pickpockets

The 1874 "Slang Dictionary" said a diver was a pickpocket, and to dive was to pick pockets. The slang was apparently not new. "Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present," 1891, quoted "Picture of London" as far back as 1828, "Thieves frequently go well-dressed, especially pickpockets; good toggery being considered a necessary qualification for his calling, without which the Diver could not possibly mix in genteel company nor approach such in the streets." The slang may go back farther than that. In the early 1700s, Mary Young, nicknamed Jenny Diver, was a notorious pickpocket of London, and the same name, Jenny Diver, was used for a pickpocket character in John Gay's "The Beggar's Opera" in 1728.

Answer: A stray dog to come running down the track.

The phrase was pronounced "darby-dog". Apparently it was just one of those things that was bound to happen with a big crowd, and it happened so regularly that people grew to expect it. It came from the Derby race, but spread to others. The 1874 "Slang Dictionary" said, "Derby-dog, a masterless animal, who is sure to appear as soon as the Epsom course is cleared for the great race of the season. No year passes without a dog running between the two dense lines of spectators and searching in vain for an outlet, and he is almost as eagerly looked for as are the 'preliminary canters.' It is said that when no Derby-dog appears on the course between Tattenham Corner and the judge's box, just before the start, a dead-heat will take place between all the placed horses."

"Kingcraft's Derby," in "Wallace' Monthly," January 1887 described it: "The course had been cleared and was walled in by a living barrier. Then, while the starter was vainly endeavoring to get fifteen [horses] up for a fair start together and every one waited in breathless expectation, came the 'Derby dog' flying around Tattenham Corner. I was told that this is an incident to every Derby Day. Some poor dog, losing his master, gets upon the course. A shout is raised at him and he begins to run. The men stand so thick on the sides of the way that he cannot get through their legs and is kicked if he tries, so he starts on a run lengthwise of the course. As he comes along every one shouts at him, and the poor brute, crazy with terror, flies along the way, the roar following him, till he finally runs out at the end. Nothing can be more cruel than the fear of the poor animal as he rushes howling away in search of a safe retreat."

The word came to describe in a vivid way any such occurrence: "The presence of a female is repugnant to the game of golf. No sooner does an unlucky woman stray on to the course than, -- like the Derby dog, -- she is hooted at and bellowed to, and told to go one way by one person and another by another; all which induces a most piteous state of vacillation, in the midst of which the ball whizzes past her at a pace which would inevitably prove fatal were it to hit her."

Answer: dukes

The 1874 "Slang Dictionary" described it: "Dukes, or Dooks, the hands, originally modification of the rhyming slang, "Duke of Yorks," forks = fingers, hands -- a long way round, but quite true. The word is in very common use among low folk. 'Put up your Dooks' is a kind invitation to fight."

Some others connected it to gypsy slang, using "dook" for the hand in palmistry and referring to fortune-telling in general. The 1889 "Dictionary of Slang, Jargon and Cant" by Albeert Barrere says duke meant "the hands; from the gypsy dak, douk, which refers to palmistry; 'it is in his dook,' meaning 'it is in his fate,' became 'it is in his hand.'" It was used in other phrases, such as "To grease one's duke, to bribe, to pay."

Answer: dummy

"Dummy referred to a pocket-book. In this word the derivation is obvious, being connected with Dumb, i.e., that which makes no sound. As a thieves' term for a pocket-book [wallet], it is peculiarly applicable, for the contents of pocket-books, bank-notes and papers, make no noise, while the money in a purse [change-purse, coin-purse] may betray its presence by chinking." That explanation is from the 1874 "Slang Dictionary".

"Cassell's Dictionary of Slang" by Jonathon Green, 2005, suggests it's from the early 19th Century, with the same reasoning, and says a dummy-hunter is a pickpocket specializing in stealing wallets, from the late 19th century-1900s.

Answer: to cut up capers

Didoes were defined as pranks or capers by the 1874 "Slang Dictionary," and "to cut up Didoes" was "to make pranks." The online Oxford Dictionary says the phrase means to "perform mischievous tricks or deeds", and is from the early 19th century, of unknown origin.

The "Online Etymology Dictionary" dates it as early as 1807, in American slang, "perhaps from the name of the Carthaginian queen in the 'Aeneid.'"

Answer: He's been in jail.

"Doing time" was "working out a sentence in prison", according to the 1874 "Slang Dictionary," and "He's done time", was "a slang phrase used in reference to a man who is known to have been in gaol". The slang has changed little over the years. "The Online Etymology Dictionary" says that "To do time 'serve a prison sentence' is from 1865."

Answer: Where are you staying?

Diggings were "lodgings, apartments, residence; an expression probably imported from California, or Australia, with reference to the gold diggings. It is very common nowadays for a man moving in very decent society to call his abode or his office, or any place to which he frequently resorts, his 'Diggings,'" according to the 1874 "Slang Dictionary."

The global nature of slang is emphasized, when such a phrase could come half way around the world from either of two directions. The main influx of gold-seekers occurred in the US in 1849 and Australia in 1851. "The Vulgar Tongue" by Ducange Anglicus, London, 1859, says the places where a young man lives are reported as "his 'crib,' his 'diggings,' or he 'hangs out' there."

Answer: He has drowned at sea.

"Davy's locker, or Davy Jones's locker, the sea, [was] the common receptacle for all things thrown overboard," according to the 1874 "Slang Dictionary. "A nautical phrase for death, is 'gone to Davy Jones's Locker,' which there means the other world."

According to the "Online Etymology Dictionary", "Davy Jones [was] 'the spirit of the sea,' 1751, first mentioned in Smollett's 'The Adventures of Peregrin Pickle' (chapter 15) as an ominous and terrifying fiend who 'presides over all the evil spirits of the deep, and is often seen in various shapes, perching among the rigging on the eve of hurricanes, shipwrecks and other disasters.' Davy Jones's Locker 'bottom of the sea,' is 1803, from nautical slang, of unknown origin."

Answer: He didn't eat at all.

According to the 1874 "Slang Dictionary": "'To dine with Duke Humphrey' is a euphuism for dining not at all. Many reasons have been given for the saying, and the one most worthy of credence is this: Some visitors were inspecting the abbey where the remains of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester lie, and one of them was unfortunately shut in, and remained there solus while his companions were feasting at a neighbouring hostelry. He was afterwards said to have dined with Duke Humphrey, and the saying eventually passed into a proverb."

A different origin appeared in "A New Dictionary of the English Language" by Charles Richardson, 1856: "This proverb (to dine with Duke Humphrey) hath altered the original meaning thereof, for first it signified... to eat by the bounty, or feed by the favour of another man; for Humphrey Duke of Gloucester (commonly called the good Duke) was so hospital [sic hospitable], that every man of fashion, otherwise unprovided, was welcome to dine with him." But after Duke Humphrey died, the meaning changed, and dining with him meant going dinnerless.

"A Hand-Book of Proverbs" by Henry George Bohn and John Ray, 1860, offers another explanation: "This Duke Humphrey was uncle to King Henry the Sixth, and his protector during his minority; Duke of Gloucester, renowned for hospitality, and good house-keeping. Those were said to dine with Duke Humphrey, who walked out dinnertime in the body of St. Paul's Church; because it was believed the duke was buried there. But (saith Dr. Fuller) that saying is as far from truth as they from dinner, even twenty miles off; seeing that the duke was buried in the church of St. Alban's, to which he was a great benefactor."

The "Online Etymology Dictionary" says, "To dine with Duke Humphrey (17c.) meant to go without a meal, though the reason for the expression now is obscure."