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Dearest

.

Most hateful, as dearest foe. The word dear, meaning “beloved,” is the Saxon deor (dear, rare); but dear, “hateful,” is the Anglo-Saxon derian (to hurt), Scotch dere (to annoy).        

“Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven,

Or ever I had seen that day, Horatie.”

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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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Dead Wood
Dead Works
Deaf
Deaf Adder
Deal
Deal-fish
Dean (the Latin Decanus)
Deans (Effie)
Dear
Dear Bought and Far Brought
Dearest
Death
Death and Doctor Hornbook
Death from Strange Causes
Death in the Pot
Death under Shield
Death-bell
Death-meal (A)
Death-watch
Death’s Head
Death’s Head on a Mopstick