A Dictionary of Cont..

no menace. The phrase is now a clichi and
should be used sparingly.
drawers. When this word means an article of
clothing, the plural form refers to one garment
but is always treated as a plural, as in these
drawers are warm. In order to use the word with
a singular verb or to speak of more than one
such garment, it is necessary to say this pair of
drawers is warm or several pairs of drawers.
The form drawers is used as the first element in
a compound, as in drawers material.
drawing pin. See thumbtack.
drawn. See draw.
draw the line at something, marking it as a limit
beyond which one is prepared to fight or to take
or accept other drastic action, is a clicht. It
seems to be based on the habit of pugnacious
frontiersmen, now relegated to boys, of drawing
a line in the dirt and defying one’s opponent to
step across it.
draw the long bow. The long bow, as every boy
who has read his Robin Hood stories knows,
was a mighty weapon employed in mighty feats
by mighty men before villainous saltpeter was
digged out of the bowels of the harmless earth
to destroy many a good tall fellow so cowardly.
Apparently the boasts of old bowmen exceeded
credence and their narratives became a term for
large exaggeration, a euphemism for boastful
lying. But the term is now a clich6. It has been
many a century since anyone has been annoyed
by the boasting of a longbowman and there is
such a richness of contemporary boasting to
choose a new figure from that continued use of
the old one amounts to neglect of our national
resources.
dread may be followed by an infinitive, as in he
dreads to go, or by the -ing form of a verb, as
in he dreads going. It may also be followed by
a clause. Formerly, this was introduced by Zest
and the clause verb was a subjunctive, as in
I dread lest he go. This is now extremely bookish.
A that clause with the verb in the indicative,
as in Z dread that he will go, is sometimes heard
but an infinitive construction, such as I dread to
see him go or I dread to have him go, is generally
preferred.
dreadful. See awful; horrible.
dream. The past tense is dreamed or dreamt. The
participle is also dreamed or dreamt. In the
United States dreamed is preferred for the past
tense and the participle. Dreamt is preferred in
Great Britain. Dream may be followed by a
clause, as in he dreams he is there. If the -ing
form of a verb follows dream it must be introduced
by the preposition of, as in he dreams of
being there.
dregs is a mass word with a plural form. It is regularly
used with a plural verb, as in the dregs
are bitter. But it is not a true plural and we
cannot speak of three or four dregs. However,
a singular form dreg exists and may be used to
make the absence of dregs, or the smallness,
emphatic, as in leave no dreg and if any dreg
remain. We may speak of many dregs or of
much dregs.
145 drought
dress. The past tense is dressed or drest. The participle
is also dressed or drest. Dressed is the
preferred form for the past tense and the participle.
dressed up to the nines. No one is quite sure
what the “nines” in dressed up to the nines
means. It has been suggested that nine being a
mystical number it means dressed up to perfection,
but that fails to account for the plural, if
the word is the plural of the number nine. The
phrase sometimes appears as to the nine. Burns
wrote that a certain action would please him
to the nine and Charles Reade refers to men or
women being clad in snowy cotton and japanned
to the nine. It has been conjectured that the
phrase may derive from to then eyne, i.e., to the
eyes, and this would make sense in the common
phrase but it would not account for the final s
there and elsewhere. No context has been found
that makes any meaning absolutely clear, and
plenty have been found that make any explanation
yet advanced untenable. It is one of those
phrases to which no specific meaning can be
attached, a clichC, to be avoided. Dressed fit to
kill has a more obvious meaning, -. but it, , too. Iis
hackneyed.
dresser. Though the word dresser used to mean in
America what it still means in England. a sideboard
or set of shelves for dishes-and cooking
utensils (The bland illumination filled the entire
apartment.. . making the scoured milk pans and
the white crockery on the large “dresser”shine-
1848. With a nice dinner ready cooked for ‘em,
and set out in the dresser-l 875)) it now means
solely a dressing table or bureau (In this crib
there’s just n few pieces of furniture which consist
of a bed, washstand . . . a dresser and maybe
two chairs-1947).
drest. See dress.
drew. See draw.
drink. The past tense is drunk. The participle is
drunk or drank. Drunk is the usual participle
today, but drank, as in he had drank deep, is
still acceptable in many parts of the United
States. This construction was popular with nineteenth
century writers, perhaps because drank
does not suggest too much alcohol as much as
drunk does. An older participle drunken is still
in use as an adjective, as in a drunken sailor, but
we also say a drunk sailor.
drive. The past tense is drove. The participle is
driven. Drive may be followed by an infinitive,
as in he drove her to admit it, or by the -ing
form of a verb with the preposition to, as in
he drove her to admitting it. The -ing construction
is generally preferred. Forty years ago many
people felt that drive could not be used in speaking
of an automobile, but this attempt to preserve
“pure” English has now been abandoned.
droll. See funny.
drop. The past tense is dropped or dropt. The par-,
ticiple is also dropped or dropt. Dropped is the
preferred form for the past tense and the participle.
drought and drouth, pronounced as spelled, are
simply variants. Drouth is now dialectal in Eng-