The Foolish Dictionary Part 6

=DABBLE= v. t., To play in water.

=DABBLE IN STOCKS=--Same thing.

=DACHSHUND= A low-down dog.

=DANCE= A brisk, physical exercise, invented by St. Vitus.

=DATES= A fruit commonly plucked from the Family Tree and spread on the leaves of history. (Dist. bet. Dates and Peaches, which are often a.s.sociated).

=DEAD= Without life. See Boston.

=DEADER= Pompeii.

=DEADEST= Philadelphia.

=DEADBEAT= One who makes a soft living by sponging it.

=DEBT= A big word beginning with Owe, which grows bigger the more it is contracted.

=DEE-LIGHTED=

[Ill.u.s.tration]

An Oyster Bay localism, derived from delighted.

(Patent and Dramatic rights to this word are, until March 4, 1905, the exclusive property of T. Roosevelt, Esq., Subsequent editions of The Foolish Dictionary will define the word at length).

=DELEGATE= From Eng. _dally_, to loaf, and Fr. _gate_, spoiled. A spoiled loafer.

=DEMAGOGUE= From Grk. _demos_, people, and Eng. _gag_. One who gags the people.

=DEMOCRACY= A mysterious country, bounded on the east by Richard Olney, on the west by Willie Bryan, on the north by Dave Hill and on the south by Bennie Pitchfork Tillman.

=DEN= A cavity.

=DENT= To punch.

=DENTIST= One who punches the face and fills cavities.

=DEUCE= An honest card, in fact the only one that is never known to beat tray.

=DEVIL=

[Ill.u.s.tration]

An old rascal mentioned in the Bible, now reported engaged to Mary McLane.

=DIAMOND= A bright gem the sparkle of which sometimes renders a woman stone-blind to the defects of the man proffering it.

=DIARY= An honest autobiography. A good keepsake, but a bad give-away.

=DIGNITY= A narrow, unstable bearing which mental spindle-shanks try to stand upon when they have no other support.

=d.i.c.kENS= An author; polite term for the devil.

=DIE= An effect.

=DIET= Frequently a cause.