Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—D

Dad

or Daddy. Father. The person who acts as father at a wedding, a stage-manager. The superintendent of a casual ward is termed by the inmates “Old Daddy.” (A Night in a Work-house, by an Amateur Casual [J. Greenwood].)

In the Fortunes of Nigel, by Sir W. Scott, Steenie, Duke of Buckingham, calls King James “My dear dad and gossip.” (Welsh, tad; Irish, daid, father; Sanskrit, tada; Hindu, dada.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Daddy Long-legs
Dactyl
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