The Prisoner of Zenda (34 page)

Deuce
NOUN
a slang term for the Devil
Ah, I dare say I did. Deuce take me, he added suddenly, I know I did. I find I am not quite unscrewed yet.
(
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

diabolical
ADJ
diabolical means devilish or evil
and with a
thousand diabolical expressions
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

direction
NOUN
here direction means address
Elizabeth was not surprised at it, as Jane had written the direction remarkably ill
(
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen)

discover
VERB
to make known or an
NOUN
ce
the Emperor would discover the secret while I was out of his power
(
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

dissemble
VERB
hide or conceal
Dissemble nothing
(
On His Mistress
by John Donne)

dissolve
VERB
dissolve here means to release from life, to die
Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
(
Ode on a Nightingale
by John Keats)

distrain
VERB
to distrain is to seize the property of someone who is in debt in compensation for the money owed
for he's threatening to distrain for it
(
Silas Marner
by George Eliot)

Divan
NOUN
a Divan was originally a Turkish council of state–the name was transferred to the couches they sat on and is used to mean this in English
Mr Brass applauded this picture very much, and the bed being soft and comfortable, Mr Quilp determined to use it, both as a sleeping place by night and as a kind of Divan by day.
(
The Old Curiosity Shop
by Charles Dickens)

divorcement
NOUN
separation
By all pains which want and
divorcement hath
(
On His Mistress
by John Donne)

dog in the manger,
PHRASE
this phrase describes someone who prevents you from enjoying something that they themselves have no need for
You are a dog in the manger, Cathy, and desire no one to be loved but yourself
(
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë)

dolorifuge
NOUN
dolorifuge is a word which Thomas Hardy invented. It means pain-killer or comfort
as a species of dolorifuge
(
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy)

dome
NOUN
building
that river and that mouldering dome
(
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth)