Brewer's: Dab, Din

etc.

Hab Dab and David Din Ding the deil o'er Dabson's Linn.

“Hab Dab” means Halbert Dobson; “David Din” means David Dun; and “Dabson's Linn,” or Dob's Linn, is a waterfall near the head of Moffat Water.

Dobson and Dun were two Cameronians who lived for security in a cave in the ravine. Here, as they said, they saw the devil in the form of a pack of dried hides, and after fighting the “foul fiend” for some time, they dinged him into the waterfall.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Related Content