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Dotʹterel

or Dottrel. A doting old fool; an old man easily cajoled. The bird thus called, a species of plover, is said to be so fond of imitation that any one who excites its curiosity by strange antics may catch it.

To dor the dotterel. Dor is an archaic word meaning to trick or cheat. Whence the phrase to “dor the dotterel” means to cheat the simpleton.

 

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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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Dorothea (St.)
Dorset
Dorsetian Downs
Dositheans
Doson
Doss
Doss-house (A)
Dosser
Do-the-Boys Hall
Dot and go One (A)
Dotterel
Douay Bible
Double (To)
Double Dealing
Double Dutch
Double-edged Sword
Double Entendre (English-French for Un mot à double entente, or à deux ententes)
Double First (A)
Double-headed Eagle (The)
Double-tongued
Double up (To)