The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

oratory or eloquence. <strong>The</strong> Athenian statesman
Demosthenes (384–322 b.c.) was greatly admired
as an orator, although as a youth he struggled with
a weak voice and stammer. He improved his speaking
technique by such devices as learning to talk
clearly with his mouth stuffed with pebbles and
competing in volume with the sound of the waves
crashing on the shore. Ultimately, his skill as an
orator proved his undoing after his criticisms of
Philip of Macedonia incurred the latter’s wrath
and he was obliged to kill himself by taking poison
when the Macedonians invaded. “Those are distinctions
which we hardly understand on this
thick- headed side of the water. But demagogues,
demo crats, demonstrations, and Demosthenic
oratory are all equally odious to John Eustace”
(Anthony Trollope, <strong>The</strong> Eustace Diamonds, 1873).
See also philippic.
denarius (denahreebs) Ready money; cash. <strong>The</strong>
denarius was the basic silver coin in ancient Rome.
I bet that car cost a pretty denarius.
Denmark, something is rotten in the state of See
something is rotten in the state of denmark.
Dennis the Menace An unruly young boy. Dennis
the Menace made his fi rst appearance in the
British children’s comic book <strong>The</strong> Beano in 1951
and soon became a fi rm favorite. That same year
he also made his debut in U.S. comic strips,
although depicted as blond and much younger
than the British prototype, who was distinguished
by his mop of thick black hair. Her boy is a real Dennis
the Menace, and destroys just about everything he
lays his hands on.
den of lions See daniel in the lions’ den.
den of thieves A place where thieves or other
dishonest characters are likely to be found. According
to Matthew 21:13 Christ entered the Temple
only to fi nd that it had been taken over as a place
of business by money changers, causing him to
lament, “It is written, My house shall be called the
house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of
thieves.” Christ then overturned their tables and
threw the money changers out of the Temple. In
modern usage the phrase is often applied to any
fi nancial institution or business suspected of using
unscrupulous methods. “<strong>The</strong> ordinary of Newgate
preached to women who were to swing at Tyburn
for a petty theft as if they were worse than other
people,—just as though he would not have been a
pickpocket or shoplifter, himself, if he had been
born in a den of thieves and bred up to steal or
starve!” (Oliver Wendell Holmes, Elsie Venner,
1861). See also cast money changers out of
the temple.
Denver boot A wheel clamp. Comprising a metal
clamp that fi ts around the tire of a car, the device is
commonly employed to immobilize vehicles that
have been illegally parked until their own ers have
paid an appropriate fi ne. <strong>The</strong> name alludes to the
introduction of the fi rst such clamps in Denver,
Colorado, in 1949. His new car, which attracted attention
with its whitewall tires and red paint job, fell victim
to the Denver boot far more frequently than any of his
previous cars.
depart in peace See nunc dimittis.
Desdemona (dezdbmonb) Archetype of an innocent
female victim of intrigue and deceit. Desdemona
is the hapless wife of othello in William
Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello (c. 1603). Thanks to
the evil machinations of the treacherous Iago,
Desdemona
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