Dictionary: DUC'TURE – DUKE'DOM

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DUC'TURE, n. [L. duco.]

Guidance. [Not in use.] – South.

DUDG'EON, n.1 [G. degen.]

A small dagger. – Hudibras.

DUDG'EON, n.2 [W. dygen.]

Anger; resentment; malice; ill-will; discord. L'Estrange. Hudibras.

DUDS, n. [Scot. dud, a rag; duds, clothes, or old worn clothes; D. tod, a rag, qu. tozzi; It. tozzi, scraps. Grose.]

Old clothes; tattered garments. [A vulgar word.]

DUE, a. [du; Fr. , pp. of devoir, L. debeo; Sp. deber, It. dovere. Qu. Gr. δεω, to bind. Class Db. It has no connection with owe.]

  1. Owed; that ought to be paid or done to another. That is due from me to another, which contract, justice, or propriety requires me to pay, and which he may justly claim as his right. Reverence is due to the Creator; civility is due from one man to another. Money is due at the expiration of the credit given, or at the period promised.
  2. Proper; fit; appropriate; suitable; becoming; required by the circumstances; as, the event was celebrated with due solemnities. Men seldom have a due sense of their depravity.
  3. Seasonable; as, he will come in due time.
  4. Exact; proper; as, the musicians keep due time.
  5. Owing to; occasioned by. [Little used.] – Boyle.
  6. That ought to have arrived, or to be present, before the time specified; as, two mails are now due.

DUE, adv.

Directly; exactly; as, a due east course.

DUE, n.

  1. That which is owed; that which one contracts to pay, do, or perform to another; that which law or justice requires to be paid or done. The money that I contract to pay to another is his due; the service which I covenant to perform to another is his due; reverence to the Creator is his due.
  2. That which office, rank, station, social relations, or established rules of right or decorum, require to be given, paid, or done. Respect and obedience to parents and magistrates are their due.
  3. That which law or custom requires; as, toll, tribute, fees of office, or other legal perquisites. – Addison.
  4. Right; just title. The key of this infernal pit by due … / I keep. – Milton.

DUE, v.t.

To pay as due. [Not used.] – Shak.

DUE-FUL, a.

Fit; becoming. [Little used.]

DU'EL, n. [L. duellum; Fr. duel; It. duello; Port. Id.; Sp. duelo. In Armoric, the word is dufell, or duvell, and Gregoire supposes the word to be compounded of dou, two, and bell, bellum, war, combat. So in Dutch, tweegevegt, two-fight; in G. zweikampf, id.]

  1. Single combat; a premeditated combat between two persons, for the purpose of deciding some private difference or quarrel. A sudden fight, not premeditated, is called a rencounter. A duel is fought with deadly weapons, and with a purpose to take life.
  2. Any contention or contest. – Milton.

DU'EL, v.i.

To fight in single combat. – South.

DU'EL, v.i.

To attack or fight singly. – Milton.

DU'EL-ER, n.

A combatant in single fight.

DU'EL-ING, n.

The act or practice of fighting in single combat.

DU'EL-ING, ppr.

Fighting in single combat.

DU'EL-IST, n.

  1. One who fights in single combat. – Dryden. The duelist values his honor above the life of his antagonist, his own life, and the happiness of his family. – Anon.
  2. One who professes to study the rules of honor.

DU-EL'LO, n.

Duel; or rule of duelling. [Not used.] – Shak.

DUE'NESS, n. [du'ness. See Due.]

Fitness; propriety; due quality.

DU-EN'NA, n. [Sp. dueña, fem. of dueño; Fr. duegne; the same as dona, the feminine of don. Qu. W. dyn, Ir. duine, man, a person. See Don.]

An old woman who is kept to guard a younger; a governess. – Arbuthnot.

DU'ET, or DU-ET'TO, n. [It. duetto, from duo, two.]

A song or air in two parts.

DUF'FEL, n. [D.]

A kind of coarse woolen cloth, having a thick nap or frieze.

DUG, n. [Ice. deggia. This word corresponds with the root of L. digitus, Eng. toe, Norm. doy, a finger, signifying a shoot or point.]

The pap or nipple of a cow or other beast. It is applied to a human female in contempt, but it seems to have been used formerly of the human breast without reproach. From tender dug of common nurse. – Spenser.

DUG, v. [pret. and pp. of Dig; as, they dug a ditch; a ditch was dug.]

DUKE, n. [Fr. duc; Sp. and Port. duque; It. duca; Arm. dug, or doug; Sax. teoche, and in composition, toga, toge, as in heretoga, an army-leader, a general; D. hertog; G. herzog; Dan. hertug; Sw. hertig; Venetian, doge; L. dux, from duco, to lead, as in Saxon, tiogan, teon, to draw, to tug; Gr. ταγος; Thessalian, tagus. Class Dg, No. 5, 14.]

  1. In Great Britain, one of the highest order of nobility; a title of honor or nobility next below the princes; as, the Duke of Bedford, or of Cornwall.
  2. In some countries on the Continent, a sovereign prince, without the title of king; as, the Duke of Holstein, of Savoy, of Parma, &c.
  3. A chief; a prince; as, the dukes of Edom. – Gen. xxxvi.

DUKE'DOM, n.

  1. The seignory or possessions of a duke; the territory of a duke. – Shak.
  2. The title or quality of a duke. – Ibid.