A corrupt form of “dey-ery,” Middle English deierie and deyyerye, from deye, a dairymaid.
“The dey or farm-woman entered with her pitchers, to deliver the milk for the family.”—Scott: Fair Maid of Perth, chap. xxxii.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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