Dad

1. The fourth letter of the English alphabet, and a vocal consonant. The English letter is from Latin, which is from Greek, which took it from Phœnician, the probable ultimate origin being Egyptian. It is related most nearly to t and th; as, Eng. deep, G. tief; Eng. daughter, G. tochter, Gr. qyga`thr, Skr. duhitr. See Guide to Pronunciation, √178, 179, 229.
2. (Mus.) The nominal of the second tone in the model major scale (that in C), or of the fourth tone in the relative minor scale of C (that in A minor), or of the key tone in the relative minor of F.
3. As a numeral D stands for 500. in this use it is not the initial of any word, or even strictly a letter, but one half of the sign (or ) the original Tuscan numeral for 1000.
4. To strike or touch gently, as with a soft or moist substance; to tap; hence, to besmear with a dabber.
5. To strike by a thrust; to hit with a sudden blow or thrust.
6. A gentle blow with the hand or some soft substance; a sudden blow or hit; a peck.
7. A small mass of anything soft or moist.
8. To play in water, as with the hands; to paddle or splash in mud or water.
9. To work in slight or superficial manner; to do in a small way; to tamper; to meddle.
10. One who dabbles.
11. One who dips slightly into anything; a superficial meddler.
12. (Pros.) A poetical foot of three sylables (--- ˘ ˘), one long followed by two short, or one accented followed by two unaccented; as, L. tëgmĭnĕ, E. mer"ciful; -- so called from the similarity of its arrangement to that of the joints of a finger.
13. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to a finger or toe, or to the claw of an insect crustacean.
14. A line consisting chiefly or wholly of dactyls; as, these lines are dactylics.
15. (Zoöl.) An arachnidan of the genus Phalangium, and allied genera, having a small body and four pairs of long legs; -- called also harvestman, carter, and grandfather longlegs.
16. (Zoöl.) A name applied to many species of dipterous insects of the genus Tipula, and allied genera, with slender bodies, and very long, slender legs; the crane fly; -- called also father longlegs.
17. Cunningly or ingeniously formed or working; skillful; artistic; ingenious.
18. Crafty; deceitful.
1. A finger or toe; a digit.
2. The claw or terminal joint of a leg of an insect or crustacean.
3. An engraver of gems for rings and other ornaments.
4. The inscription of the engraver's name on a finger ring or gem.
5. The art of writing or engraving upon gems.
6. In general, the literature or history of the art.
7. That branch of archæology which has to do with gem engraving.
8. That branch of archæology which has to do with finger rings.
9. That part of a pedestal included between the base and the cornice (or surbase); the die. See Illust. of Column.
10. In any wall, that part of the basement included between the base and the base course. See Base course, under Base.
11. In interior decoration, the lower part of the wall of an apartment when adorned with moldings, or otherwise specially decorated.

Sometimes improperly used for dabbler; as, “I am but a dabster with gentle art”.

In America the name is given to several related fishes of the genera Squalius, Minnilus, etc. The black-nosed dace is Rhinichthys atronasus the horned dace is Semotilus corporalis. For red dace, see Redfin.

There are two different manual alphabets, the one-hand alphabet (which was perfected by Abbé de l'Epée, who died in 1789), and the two-hand alphabet. The latter was probably based on the manual alphabet published by George Dalgarus of Aberdeen, in 1680. See Illustration in Appendix.