duty bound, to be

To be firmly obligated. This term is derived from bounden duty, which dates from the 1500s and was actually redundant, since from the 1400s bound also meant “under obligations.” Nevertheless, it appears in the Communion Service of the Book of Common Prayer (1559): “We beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service.” It also retains this form three centuries later: “It was his bounden duty to accept the office” (Harriet Martineau, The Manchester Strike, 1833). At some point this locution was grammatically changed to the present participial usage, as in “I’m duty bound to report this violation to the dean.”

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Dutch uncle, talk (to one) like a

A person who reproves or criticizes someone severely. Dating from the early nineteenth century, the term appeared in print in Joseph C. Neal’s Charcoal Sketches (1837). The precise origin is not known, but it is probably safe to presume that the Dutch were considered a stern, sober people, admirably suited to giving someone a talking-to in no uncertain terms.

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Dutch treat

A meal or entertainment in which the participants all pay their own way. It is an American term dating from the late nineteenth cen- tury and may be derived, one writer suggests, from the thrift observed in Dutch immigrants. However, there was an earlier term, Dutch feast, defined by Francis Grose (A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785) as an occa- sion when the host gets drunk before his guests (see also DUTCH COURAGE). A more recent version of Dutch treat is going Dutch, which has the identical meaning.

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Dutch courage

Boldness induced by drinking. The term alludes to the reputa- tion of the Dutch as heavy drinkers, which in the case of the whiskey-loving British is a case of the POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK. The idea dates back at least to the seventeenth century, when Edmund Waller wrote, “The Dutch their wine, and all their brandy lose, disarm’d of that from which their courage grows” (Instructions to a Painter, 1665). Sir Walter Scott used the term several times, but it may be dying out.

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dumb down, to

To simplify or otherwise revise in order to appeal to someone of less education, taste, or intelligence. This slangy expression dates from the first half of the 1900s. Publishers Weekly used it in a review of The Business of Books by André Schiffrin: “. . . the attempt to appeal to the lowest common denominator of taste, which has, he says, led network tele- vision and movies in such depressing directions, has dumbed down publish- ing to an alarming degree” (Aug. 21, 2000).

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dull as dishwater Flat, boring.

This expression began life in the eigh- teenth century as dull as ditchwater, alluding to the muddy color of the water in roadside gullies. “He’d be sharper than a serpent’s tooth, if he wasn’t as dull as ditchwater,” says Dickens’s Fanny Cleaver (Oliver Twist). This version survived on both sides of the Atlantic well into the twentieth century. Either through careless pronunciation or through similar analogy it occasionally became dishwater—water in which dishes had been washed and which consequently was dingy and grayish.

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duck soup, like

Extremely simple, easily accomplished. This American collo- quialism dates from about 1910, and its origin is no longer known. It gained cur- rency  after  it  became  the  title  of  one  of  the  Marx  Brothers’  zaniest  motion pictures (1933).

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dry behind the ears, not (yet)

See WET  BEHIND THE  EARS.

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dry as dust

Dull, boring, desiccated. The simile itself dates from about 1500 and has been a cliché since the eighteenth century. Nevertheless, William Wordsworth deigned to use it in “The Excursion”: “The good die first, and they whose hearts are dry as summer dust burn to the socket.”

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drunk as a lord/skunk

Extremely intoxicated. The first expression, known since the seventeenth century and considered a proverb by 1651 (“The proverb goes ‘As drunk as a lord,’” John Evelyn, A Character of En- gland), is based on the idea that the aristocracy could and did indulge in drunkenness more than commoners did, presumably because they could afford to. The more recent drunk as a skunk, American in origin, undoubt- edly became popular on account of its rhyme; it dates from the early 1900s. Both clichés have survived the demise of numerous other similes, among them drunk as an ape (from Chaucer’s time), tinker, fish, goat, owl, emperor, piper, fiddler (because he was plied with alcohol at wakes, fairs, and similar feasts), swine or pig, devil, beggar, blazes, David’s sow (based on an ancient anecdote explained in Francis Grose’s Classical Dictionary, and current from the seventeenth century), and others. See also DRINK LIKE A FISH; TIGHT AS A TICK.

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drum up

To gather, to summon. Alluding to summoning recruits by beating a drum, this term has been used figuratively since the 1600s. It is often used in a business sense, as it was by Thomas Gray in a letter of 1849: “I will then drum up subscribers for Fendler.” An antonym is to drum out, meaning to dis- miss or oust. In the military this, too, was signaled by beating a drum. This came to mean being fired from a job but is not heard as often today.

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drum (something) into one’s head, to

To force an idea on someone by means of persistent repetition. This expression, used since the early nine- teenth century, alludes to performing drumbeats over and over. John Stuart Mill used it in his Political Economy (1848): “This doctrine has been . . . tol- erably effectively drummed into the public mind.”

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drug on the market

An overabundant commodity or service for which there is little or no demand. This expression clearly predates modern times, since drugs on the market, both illegal and legal, now are very profitable indeed. The English clergyman Thomas Fuller (The History of the Worthies of England, 1662) wrote, “He made such a vent for Welsh cottons, that what he found drugs at home, he left dainties beyond the sea.” The OED suggests that “drug” here has some different meaning but does not come up with a convincing explanation. Another writer suggests it may come from the French drogue, for “rubbish,” which makes more sense.

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drowned rat, like a/wet as a

Thoroughly soaked and utterly bedrag- gled. Despite their frequent presence in sewers and similar wet places, rats do not like water, a fact observed for many centuries (“It rained by the bucket and they came home wet as drowned rats,” Petronius, Satyricon, c. A.D. 60). See also SOAKED TO THE SKIN.

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drop of a hat

See AT THE DROP OF A HAT.

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drop like flies, to

To collapse rapidly, referring to a group rather than an individual. Although this term calls to mind flies that are hit with a spray of insecticide and is, in fact, used for human beings subjected to gunfire or an epi- demic of disease, like flies has meant in large numbers or quantities since Shakespeare’s time. “The common people swarm like summer flies” wrote the bard (HenryVI, Part 2 6.8).

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drop like a hot potato, to

To abandon as quickly as possible; to ditch. The simile is based on the fact that potatoes, which hold a fair amount of water, retain heat very well, as anyone who has so burned his or her fingers will testify. The figurative hot potato is likely to be an embarrassing subject or ticklish problem. The term originated as a colloquialism in the early nineteenth century. It probably was a cliché by the time W. Somerset Maugham wrote, “She dropped him, but not like a hot brick or a hot potato,” meaning that she let him down gently (Cakes and Ale, 1930).

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drop in the bucket

A negligible amount, something that makes little difference. This expression is found in the King James version of the Bible: “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance” (Isaiah 40:15).

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drop dead I hate you, you are contemptible.

This rude imperative dates from the early 1900s. An early example appeared in John O’Hara’s novel Appointment in Samarra (1934): “‘Let’s put snow on his face.’ ‘Oh, drop dead.’” Interestingly enough, in the second half of the 1900s the term, now hyphen- ated drop-dead, began to be used as an adjective or adverb meaning “very” or “exceedingly” and usually in a positive context. It was frequently paired, espe- cially in the phrase drop-dead gorgeous. For example, “She arrived at the screen- ing in furs and diamonds, looking drop-dead gorgeous.”

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drop a bombshell, to

To announce sensational news. This metaphor dates from World War I and likens the devastation caused by falling bombs to the shock of suddenly receiving unexpected tidings. “The letters do not drop any historical bombshells,” wrote a Manchester Guardian reviewer in 1928. See also BOLT FROM THE BLUE.

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