To play in water, as with the hands; to paddle or splash in mud or water.

One who dabbles.

In a dabbling manner.

A small water bird (Podilymbus podiceps), allied to the grebes, remarkable for its quickness in diving; -- called also dapchick, dobchick, dipchick, didapper, dobber, devil-diver, hell-diver, and pied-billed grebe.

A large and highly venomous Asiatic viper (Daboia xanthica).

One who is skilled; a master of his business; a proficient; an adept.

A small European cyprinoid fish (Leuciscus leuciscus, formerly Squalius leuciscus or Leuciscus vulgaris); -- called also dare.

a genus of Australasian kingfishers.

a Russian country house, especially a cottage used in the summer.

One of a breed of small dogs with short crooked legs, and long body; -- called also badger dog. There are two kinds, the rough-haired and the smooth-haired.

Of or pertaining to Dacia or the Dacians. A native of ancient Dacia.

a natural family comprising the honeycreepers.

One of a class of robbers, in India and Burma (Myanmar), who act in gangs and are usually armed.

The practice of gang robbery in India; robbery committed by dacoits.

Same as Dacotas.

a brand of polyester textile fiber, or the wrinkle-resistant fabric prepared from it.

a genus of evergreen coniferous shrubs or trees of New Zealand to Malaysia and Philippines.

a genus of Australasian evergreen trees or shrubs.

the type genus of the Dacrymycetaceae, consisting of fungi with a bifurcate basidium that lacks septa.

A poetical foot of three sylables (/ / /), one long followed by two short, or one accented followed by two unaccented; as, L. t/gm/n/, E. mer/ciful; -- so called from the similarity of its arrangement to that of the joints of a finger.

Pertaining to dactyl; dactylic.

A dactyl.

A line consisting chiefly or wholly of dactyls; as, these lines are dactylics.

An engraver of gems for rings and other ornaments. The inscription of the engraver's name on a finger ring or gem.

The art or process of gem engraving.

The art of writing or engraving upon gems. In general, the literature or history of the art.

That branch of arch/ology which has to do with gem engraving. That branch of arch/ology which has to do with finger rings.

Divination by means of finger rings.

A writer of dactylic verse.

An inflammatory affection of the fingers.

The art of communicating ideas by certain movements and positions of the fingers; a form of sign language, especially the manual alphabets used by the deaf and dumb.

Dactyliomancy.

The art of numbering or counting by the fingers.

Having the inferior rays of the pectoral fins partially or entirely free, as in the gurnards.

a natural family of Atlantic fishes comprising the sand stargazers.

The scaly covering of the toes, as in birds.

A kind of zooid of Siphonophora which has an elongated or even vermiform body, with one tentacle, but no mouth. See Siphonophora.

Father; -- a word sometimes used by children.

To toddle; to walk unsteadily, like a child or an old man; hence, to do anything slowly or feebly.

The rotten body of a tree.

Diminutive of Dad.

To walk unsteadily, as a child in leading strings, or just learning to walk; to move slowly.

That part of a pedestal included between the base and the cornice (or surbase); the die. See Illust. of Column. In any wall, that part of the basement included between the base and the base course. See Base course, under Base. In interior decoration, the lower part of the wall of an apartment when adorned with moldings, or otherwise specially decorated.

Cunningly or ingeniously formed or working; skillful; artistic; ingenious.

Having a variously cut or incised margin; -- said of leaves.

See Demon, Demonic.

To daunt.

A plant of the genus Asphodelus. A plant of the genus Narcissus (Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus). It has a bulbous root and beautiful flowers, usually of a yellow hue. Called also daffodilly, daffadilly, daffadowndilly, daffydowndilly, etc.

Stupid; foolish; idiotic; also, delirious; insane; as, he has gone daft.

The quality of being daft.

To be misty; to drizzle.

Daggle-tailed; having the tail clogged with daglocks.

the lemonwood tree (Calycophyllum candidissimum); -- it is a tropical American tree which is source of a tough elastic wood.

the Mesopotanian god of agriculture and earth; it is a counterpart of Phoenician and Philistine Dagon.

in Irish legend, chief god of the Tuatha De Danann; father of Angus Og and Brigit.

a relatively nontoxic South African herb (Leonotis leonurus) smoked like tobacco.

A timber placed diagonally in a ship's frame.

An ornamental cutting of the edges of garments, introduced about a. d. 1346, according to the Chronicles of St Albans.

To run, go, or trail one's self through water, mud, or slush; to draggle.

A slovenly woman; a slattern; a draggle-tail.

A dirty or clotted lock of wool on a sheep; a taglock.

A nickname given to a person of Spanish (or, by extension, Portuguese or Italian) descent.

A dome-shaped structure built over relics of Buddha or some Buddhist saint.

A slip or piece.

A coarse woolen fabric made of daglocks, or the refuse of wool.

Pertaining to Daguerre, or to his invention of the daguerreotype.

To produce or represent by the daguerreotype process, as a picture.

One who takes daguerreotypes.

The art or process of producing pictures by method of Daguerre.

A Nile boat constructed on the model of a floating house, having large lateen sails.

A genus of plants native to Mexico and Central America, of the order Composit/; also, any plant or flower of the genus. The numerous varieties of cultivated dahlias bear conspicuous flowers which differ in color.

A variety of starch extracted from the dahlia; -- called also inulin. See Inulin.

a radish of Japan (Raphanus sativus longipinnatus) with a long hard durable root eaten raw or cooked.

the lower house of the parliament of the Republic of Ireland; -- also called the Dail Eirann. From its members is selected the Taoiseach, or prime minister.

Daily occurence.

Every day; day by day; as, a thing happens daily.

The title of the feudal nobles of Japan.

Something of exquisite taste; a dainty. Dainty.

To render dainty, delicate, or fastidious.

In a dainty manner; nicely; scrupulously; fastidiously; deliciously; prettily.

The quality of being dainty; nicety; niceness; elegance; delicacy; deliciousness; fastidiousness; squeamishness.

Adelicacy.

Rare; valuable; costly.

an alcoholic beverage containing rum and lime or lemon juice, usually mixed with a fruit juice or fruit extract and often blended with crushed ice; as, a strawberry daiquiri.

Any of several valuable estates of the Egyptian khedive or his family. The most important are the Da"i*ra Sa"ni*eh (s/"n/*/), or Da"i*ra Sa"ni*yeh, and the Da"i*ra Khas"sa, administered by the khedive's European bondholders, and known collectively as the Daira, or the Daira estates.

The place, room, or house where milk is kept, and converted into butter or cheese.

The business of conducting a dairy.

A female servant whose business is the care of the dairy.

A man who keeps or takes care of a dairy.

A woman who attends to a dairy.

The high or principal table, at the end of a hall, at which the chief guests were seated; also, the chief seat at the high table.

Full of daisies; adorned with daisies.

A genus of low herbs (Bellis), belonging to the family Composit/. The common English and classical daisy is Bellis perennis, which has a yellow disk and white or pinkish rays. The whiteweed (Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum), the plant commonly called daisy in North America; -- called also oxeye daisy. See Whiteweed.

any of various mostly Australian attractively shaped shrubs of the genus Olearia grown for their handsome and sometimes fragrant evergreen foliage and profusion of daisy flowers with white or purple or blue rays.

Post; mail; also, the mail or postal arrangements; -- spelt also dawk, and dauk.

The capital city of Senegal. Population (2000) = 1,729,823.

A measure of certain commodities by number, usually ten or twelve, but sometimes twenty; as, a daker of hides consisted of ten skins; a daker of gloves of ten pairs.

See Dacoit, Dacoity.

An extensive race or stock of Indians, including many tribes, mostly dwelling west of the Mississippi River; -- also, in part, called Sioux.

Split pulse, esp. of Cajanus Indicus.

a large genus of tropical trees having pinnate leaves and paniculate flowers and cultivated commercially for their dramatically grained and colored timbers.

A low place between hills; a vale or valley.

a genus of plants including the indigo bush.

One living in a dale; -- a term applied particularly to the inhabitants of the valleys in the north of England, Norway, etc.

imp. of Delve.

A rapid, esp. one where the channel is narrowed between rock walls.

The act of dallying, trifling, or fondling; interchange of caresses; wanton play.

One who fondles; a trifler; as, dalliers with pleasant words.

a tall tufted perennial tropical American grass (Paspalum dilatatum) naturalized as pasture and forage grass in the southern U.S.

A tuft or clump.

To delay unnecessarily; to while away.

A genus of trilobites, of many species, common in the Upper Silurian and Devonian rocks.

Same as Dalmania.

Of or pertaining to Dalmatia.

A vestment with wide sleeves, and with two stripes, worn at Mass by deacons, and by bishops at pontifical Mass; -- imitated from a dress originally worn in Dalmatia.

a herb of the Pacific islands (Colocasia esculenta) grown throughout the tropics for its edible root and in temperate areas as an ornamental for its large glossy leaves.

John Dalton, scientist, born 1766, died 1844.

a unit of mass, approximately 1.66 x 10-24 grams; -- it is approximately equal to the mass of one hydrogen atom, but the exact value differs slightly as used in physics and chemistry. It is used mostly to describe the size of proteins and nucleic acids in biochemistry.

One afflicted with color blindness.

Inability to perceive or distinguish certain colors, esp. red; color blindness. It has various forms and degrees. So called from the chemist Dalton, who had this infirmity.