Shakespeare Glossary: D

DAEDALUS: mythical figure in Greek history, said to have created the saw, the axe, the augur, and glue. He created a pair of wings and flew safely over the Aegean sea.

DAFF: to put off; to push; to thrust aside.

DAISIED: full of daisies.

DALLIANCE: procrastination; idle delay.

DAMASK: the color of the damask rose.

DAME: mistress of a household; woman of rank; mother.

DAMN: to condemn.

DAMP: fog, mist.

DAN: lord, master.

DANGER: reach, control, power.

DANKISH: dank, humid.

DANSKERS:  Danes (Hamlet, 2.1).

DAPHNE: a beautiful nymph loved by Apollo and Leucippus. The gods turned her into a laurel tree.

DARE: to challenge; boldness.

DARKING: eclipse.

DARK HOUSE: a mad house.

DARKLING: in the dark.

DARKNESS: nighttime; death.

DARRAIGN: arrange.

DARTING: shooting darts.

DASH: to frustrate; to set aside.

DAUB: to disguise, cover; to smear; to color.

DAUBERY: imposition.

DAY-WOMAN: a dairy-maid.

DEAD-KILLING: mortal; deadly.

DEADLY: death-like; mortally.

DEADLY-HANDED: murderous.

DEAD-STANDING: eyes fixed and staring like the dead.

DEAR: dire.

DEARN: lonely.

DEBOSHED: debauched, drunken.

DECK (1): to bedew. This is probably a form of the verb.

DECK (2): a pack of cards.

DECLINE: to incline or lean; to bend.

DECLINED: fallen.

DEEM: doom, judgment.

DEFEAT (1): to undo, destroy.

DEFEAT (2): destruction.

DEFEATURE: disfigurement.

DEFENCE: art of fencing.

DEFEND: to forbid.

DEFENSIBLE: having the power to defend.

DEFICIENT: failing; fainting.

DEFTLY: dexterously.

DEFY: to challenge; to reject.

DEFUSE:  disorder (King Lear, 1.4).

DEFUSED: deformed; shapeless.

DEGREES: a step.

DELAY: to let slip by delaying.

DEMERIT: merit, desert.

DEMURELY: solemnly.

DENAY: denial.

DENIER: the 12th part of a French sol coin.

DENY: to refuse.

DEPART: departure.

DEPART: to part.

DEPARTING: parting, separation.

DEPEND: to be in service.

DERIVED: born, descended.

DERIVATIVE: inheritance (Winter's Tale, 3.2).

DEROGATE: degraded.

DESCANT: a melody.

DESIGN: to draw up articles.

DESPATCH: to deprive, bereave.

DESPERATE: determined, bold.

DETECT: to charge, blame.

DETERMINE: to conclude.

DEVEST: to undress.

DICH: a corruption of "do it."

DIET (1): course of life; regimen; food.

DIET (2): to feed; to prescribe a diet for.

DIFFUSED: confused.

DIGRESSING: transgressing, going out of the right way.

DIGRESSION: transgression.

DIG-YOU-GOOD-DEN: give you good evening.

DILDO: the chorus or burden of a song.

DINT: stroke.

DIRECTION: judgment, skill.

DISABLE: to disparage.

DISAPPOINTED: unprepared.

DISCASE: to undress.

DISCONTENT: a malcontent.

DISCOURSE: power of reasoning.

DISDAINED: disdainful.

DISEDGE: to reduce the appetite.

DISLIMN: to disfigure, transform.

DISME: a tenth or tithe.

DISPARK: to destroy a park.

DISPITEOUS: pitiless.

DISPONGE, DISPUNGE: to squeeze out as from a sponge.

DISPOSE (1): disposal.

DISPOSE (2): to conspire.

DISPOSITION: maintenance.

DISPUTABLE: inclined to dispute.

DISPUTE: to discuss; to resist.

DISSEMBLY: Dogberry's misuse of the word assembly (Much Ado 4.2.1).

DISTAIN: to soil; to stain; defile.

DISTANCE: disagreement; hostility; not close.

DISTASTE: to have no taste for; cause disgust.

DISTEMPERED: discontented.

DISTRACTION: division, detachment.

DISTRAUGHT: distracted, mad.

DIVERTED: turned from the natural course.

DIVISION: a phrase or passage in a melody.

DIVULGED: published, spoken of.

DOFF: to put off.

DOG-APE: a male ape.

DOG-DAYS: hottest days of the year, corresponding to the rising of the Dog-star.

DOIT: a small Dutch coin.

DOLE: share, portion; destiny.

DONE: 'agreed!'; ruined, lost.

DOTANT: one who dotes, a dotard.

DOUT: to do out, quench.

DOWLAS: a kind of coarse sacking.

DOWLE: the swirl of a feather.

DOWN-GYVED: hanging down like gyves or fetters.

DRAB: a harlot.

DRABBING: whoring.

DRAUGHT: a privy.

DRAWN: having his sword drawn.

DRAWN: drunk, having taken a good draught.

DRIBBLING: weak.

DRIVE: to rush impetuously.

DROLLERY: a puppet-show.

DRUMBLE: to dawdle.

DRY: severe, hard; dull, stupid; thirsty.

DUC-DAME: perhaps the Latin duc-ad-me, "bring him to me", but usually regarded as a nonsense word.

DUDGEON: a dagger.

DULL: not quick or sharp; slow, heavy, drowsy; gloomy; blunt.

DULL-EYED: having the eyes dimmed; wanting.

DUMP: mournful melody; tune in general.

DUN: an old Christian game in which a heavy log was carried by the players; the color of a mouse.

DUP: to open.

DURANCE: confinement.

DUST: particle of dust.

DUTEOUS: dutiful; submissive.

DWELL: to remain; to stand on.

DWINDLE: to become smaller and smaller; waste away; shrink (invented by Shk., Macbeth 1.3).