| 释义 |
▪ I. double, a. (adv.)|ˈdʌb(ə)l|
Forms: 3–7 duble, doble, 3– double (4–7 dowble, 6–7 dubbel; with 30 variants in -bb-, -el, -il(l, -ul(l, -yl(le, etc.)
[ME. a. OF. duble, doble, later double = Pr. Sp. doble, It. doppio:—L. duplu-s twice as much, double, f. du-o two + -plus from root ple- to fill.]
A. adj.
1. a. Consisting of two members, things, or sets combined; twofold; forming a pair, paired, coupled; made of two layers of material, as a garment, etc. Often, with a sing. n., equivalent to ‘two’ or ‘a couple of’ with plural n.
a1300Cursor M. 1528 (Cott.) Lameth..bigam was wit dubul vijfe. 1393Gower Conf. III. 125 Janus with double face. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xiv. 60 It es wele walled aboute with a dowble wall. 1513More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 830 To have a double string for his Bowe. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 209 Like to a double cherry..Two louely berries molded on one stem. 1611Coryat Crudities 352 The Italian when he vttereth any Latin word wherein this letter i is to be pronounced long, doth alwaies pronounce it as a double e, viz. as ee. 1666[see yolk n.1 1]. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 50 A double Wreath shall crown our Cæsar's Brows; Two differing Trophies, from two different Foes. 1711Steele Spect. No. 140 ⁋5 Is Dimpple spelt with a single or double P? 1803Wordsw. Yarrow Unvisited vi, Let..The swan on still St. Mary's Lake Float double, swan and shadow! 1834Medwin Angler in Wales I. 85 Boots ..of double leather. 1836Dickens Sk. Boz 1st Ser. (ed. 3) 81 The chief pastime of the children..had been..to knock loud double knocks at the door. 1838― Nich. Nick. iii, Nickleby gave a double knock. 1840[see door 1 b]. 1843Ainsworth's Mag. III. 153 She..assailed his nerves by means of the thundering double-knocks of postmen. 1866[see knock n.1 1]. 1871Roby Lat. Gram. i. v. 22 After Cicero and Cæsar's time the double i had a different meaning. 1871[see door 1 b]. 1873Young Englishwoman Sept. 438/2 Round eggs..[may] contain a double yolk. 1906Galsworthy Man of Property ii. xii. 256 The only thing against her was that she had not a double name. 1951Catal. of Exhibits, South Bank Exhib., Festival of Britain 135/1 Double sink, stainless steel. 1953E. Simon Past Masters i. iii. 33 There was a big stove, two double sinks. 1961Guardian 1 Feb. 6/4 A splendid double sink with a double drainer. 1968J. Fraser Evergreen Death xix. 162 A man parks his car on a double yellow line and we can have him.
b. Folded, doubled; bent, ‘doubled up’, stooping much forward.
c1450Bk. Curtasye 659 in Babees Bk. 321 Þo ouer nape schalle dowbulle be layde. 1494Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 23 Neither..should be laid double in packing. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. xii, I struck my double fist against the side. c1881Ord. St. John, Ambulance Dept., On triangular bandage, Place a piece of lint double over the wound. Mod. He was bent double with pain.
c. Having some essential part double, as a two-edged axe, a carriage with two seats, an eagle figured with two heads (see double eagle), etc. Also applied to a horse that carries two persons (see horse).
1469Househ. Ord. 99 Of double horses xxxviii Of hackneyss xij. 1590Nashe Pasquil's Apol. i. C ij, Mounted vppon their dubble Geldings, with theyr Wiues behinde them. a1700Dryden Ovid's Met. ix. (R.), The lance and double ax of the fair warrior queen. 1791in F. Burney Diary Aug., My daughter and I rode a double horse. 1836–9Dickens Sk. Boz (1850) 218/2 The double-fly was ordered to be at the door..at nine o'clock. 1850Vesper Bk. (Burns & Oates) Pref. 12 The Office..is said to be Double when the Antiphon is sung entire both before and after each Psalm. 1894Jrnl. Hellenic Stud. XIV. 123 Fifty or more ‘small heads of oxen, with a double axe between their horns, cut out of gold plate’. 1957V. G. Childe Dawn Europ. Civilization (ed. 6) ii. 28 After Middle Minoan III the single-bladed axe was ousted in Crete by the two-edged variety—the Double Axe—known also to the Sumerians and elevated to become a fetish or symbol of divine power.
d. Of flowers: Having the number of petals increased to twice the number or more by conversion of stamens and carpels into petals.
In the case of some Compositæ, as the dahlia: Having the ligulate florets increased at the expense of the tubular.
1578Lyte Dodoens ii. x. 159 By often setting they [Campions] waxe very double. 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 198 Single and double Hepatica. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Rose Tree, The Striped Rose does not grow so double as the Dutch. 1776Withering Brit. Plants (1796) II. 489 Petals in several rows, resembling a double flower. 1840Hood Miss Kilmansegg, Her Honeymoon ix, A double dahlia delights the eye.
e. double of: corresponding or correlative to. rare. (Cf. double n. 2.)
[1611Bible Ecclus. xlii. 24 All things are double one against another.] 1876Mozley Univ. Serm. ix. (1877) 186 There could not be a more striking instance of things being double one of another.
2. Having a twofold relation or application; occurring or existing in two ways or respects; of two kinds; dual; sometimes = ambiguous (see also double meaning).
a1225Ancr. R. 70 Euerich urideie..holdeð silence, bute ȝif hit beo duble feste. a1300Cursor M. 660 (Cott.) O duble ded þan sal ȝee dei. c1374Chaucer Troylus v. 898 With dowble wordes sleye, Swich as men clepe ‘a word with two visages’. 1393Gower Conf. II. 274 He hath ordeined of his sleight Measure double and double weight. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI (an. 36) 172 Fye on doble entendement, and cloked adulacion. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 10 This Arsenicum is double, one ashie colour, and the other..like Golde. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 8 The word µηλον, admitting a double construction, sheep and apple. 1751Jortin Serm. (1771) V. ii. 43 A double incitement to goodness. 1837Marryat Dog-fiend lii, He..is a double traitor. 1868Lockyer Elem. Astron. iv. §26 (1879) 143 The Earth..has a double movement, turning round its own axis while it travels round the Sun.
3. Twice as much or many; of twice the measure or amount; multiplied by two. Const. of (formerly over, to); also ellipt. with prep. omitted, and thus = twice.
c1305Pilate 21 in E.E.P. (1862) 111 He þoȝte if he hit slowe: þat hit were doble wo. 1375Barbour Bruce i. 5 Than suld storyss that suthfast wer..Hawe doubill plesance in heryng. 1484Caxton Fables of Avian 17 The dowble parte or as moche more ageyne. 1513More Rich. III (1883) 123 The kyng his armie was double to all this. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI (an. 39) 186 b, He..should have..doble wages. 1611Bible 2 Kings ii. 9 Let a double portion of thy spirit be vpon me. 1644Digby Nat. Bodies ii. (1645) 126 Let the excesse..be but..double over his that commeth next unto him. 1648Cromwell Lett. 20 Nov., Their fault who have appeared in this summer's business is certainly double to theirs who were in the first. 1712W. Rogers Voy. 5 We had now above double the number of Officers usual in Privateers. 1807Southey Lett. (1856) II. 38 Offering about double pay to what the ‘Annual’ gives. 1838De Morgan Ess. Probab. 147 The average error of the first..is double of that of the second. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 592 His army..might easily have been increased to double the number.
4. a. Of (or about) twice the ordinary size, strength, value, etc., or that denoted by the simple word; of extra size, strength, or amount. Chiefly in technical names of various products, as beer, vessels, cannon, coins, sizes of paper, etc.
1472Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 246 Clavis vocatis dowbil⁓spikynge. 1495Nottingham Rec. III. 284, ij. dovbulle glasses. c1500Blowbol's Test. in Halliwell Nugæ Poet. 10 Sengle bere, and othir that is dowbile. c1565Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1728) 108 Small artillery, that is to say myand..quarter-falcon..double-dogs. 1602Marston Ant. & Mel. i. Wks. 1856 I. 11 Guerdoned with twentie thousand double pistolets. 1604Shakes. Oth. i. ii. 14 A voice potentiall, As double as the Duke's. 1667Lond. Gaz. No. 218/4 A double shallop from Diepe bound for Nants. 1686Ibid. No. 2139/4 Two double Tankards, Three single ones. 1773Williamson in Phil. Trans. LXV. 100 Within the thickness of double-post paper. 1824Byron Juan xvi. lxvii, A mighty mug of..double ale. 1854C. M. Yonge Castle Builders xxii. 348 Kate..continued it [sc. knitting] steadily when the double wool was a great deal too hot to be pleasant. 1873Young Englishwoman May 247/2 Berlin Wool-work Border..it may be worked in single or double wool. 1875Ure's Dict. Arts III. 497 Foolscap, 16½ by 13½ [inches]..double foolscap, 27 by 17. 1887Standard 18 May 3/2 A new coin, to be called a Double-Florin.
b. Mus. In names of musical instruments, organ-stops, etc.: Sounding an octave lower in pitch. double reed: see reed n.1 8 a.
(A pipe, string, etc. of twice the length of another (ceteris paribus) gives a note an octave lower; hence this use.)
1674Playford Skill Mus. i. i. 3 Those below Gam-ut are called Double Notes as Double F fa ut..being Eights or Diapasons to those above. 1876Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 137/1 Double bassoon, the deepest-toned instrument of the Bassoon family. 1880W. H. Stone in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 458 Double bassoon..in pitch an octave below the ordinary bassoon. 1880Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, Double-trumpet, an organ reed-stop..an octave lower in pitch than the 8-ft. trumpet.
c. Mil. Applied to a pace in marching: see double time.
5. Acting in a double manner, i.e. in two ways at different times, openly and secretly, or in profession and practice; characterized by duplicity; false, deceitful. to live (or lead) a double life: to sustain two different characters in life, esp. one virtuous and respectable, the other immoral or blameworthy. Often of a married man who keeps a mistress. (See also double-dealing.)
a1340Hampole Psalter xi. 2 Dubbil hert when a fals man thynkis an & says a noþer. c1374Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 87 He was double in love and nothing pleyne. 14..Epiph. in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 121 With dowbull tongis and detraccion. 1503Hawes Examp. Virt. i. xvi. (Arb.) 9 They..are..euermore fals and double. 1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. vii. 192 God is the Judge..He sounds the deepest of the doublest heart. a1715Burnet Own Time (1766) I. 436 He was..either very double or very inconstant. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt II. 213 To act with doubleness towards a man whose own conduct was double. 1888R. L. Stevenson in Scribner's Mag. Jan. 123/2 He began..to dream in sequence and thus to lead a double life. 1892I. Zangwill Childr. Ghetto (1893) viii. 83 Esther led a double life, just as she spoke two tongues. 1907Times 19 Dec. 9/4 The woman must have been murdered by a man who was leading a double life... The prisoner had been leading a double life. 1924E. Wallace Sinister Man xxxv, She had never imagined that this gawk of a girl..could lead what was tantamount to a double life. 1953L. P. Hartley Go-Between xi. 134 Since Marcus's return I had become vaguely aware that I was leading a double life.
6. Special Phrases, chiefly technical. double acrostic: see acrostic n. 1. double act: a performance by two entertainers; the entertainers themselves; also transf. double action: action in two directions, by two methods, or by the agency of two parts, etc.; spec. in Steam-engine, application of the steam power to both sides of the piston: see double-acting. double agent: a spy who works on behalf of mutually hostile countries, usu. with actual allegiance only to one. double album: two long-playing records or tapes sold together as a set; cf. album1 6. double algebra: algebra which deals with two sets of quantities or relations (e.g. real and imaginary quantities, lengths and directions of lines, or quantities referred to two independent units). double aspect [aspect n. 9]: in Metaph., the two forms under which a reality may appear; also attrib., as double-aspect theory (see sense C. 2 below), a philosophical theory, drawn from Spinoza, that mind and body (or matter) are the same thing viewed from two different aspects, subjective and objective; = identity-hypothesis. double bar: a species of finch found in Australia. double bill: see bill n.3 8 c. double bind (see quot. 1962); so double-binder, a person whose action results in a double bind. double blank: a domino with both halves of its face blank. double bluff: see quot. and bluff n.2 3. double boiler: a saucepan consisting of two pots, the upper one containing the food to be cooked, and the lower one containing water which is heated. double bond (Chem.) [bond n.1 13 e]: a chemical bond in which the two atoms ‘share’ two pairs of electrons rather than one pair. double chair: † (a) a light pleasure carriage having two seats (obs.); (b) a love-seat. double change (Bell-ringing): one in which two pairs of bells change places; = double n. 3 b. double chin: a chin with a fold of flesh under it (cf. double-chinned, quot. 1387 s.v. double a. C. 1). double chorus: see chorus n. 5. double coal: a superior kind of coal (the application varying locally). double common time (Music): time or rhythm in which each bar is equal to two bars of common time (8 crotchets in a bar). double concerto (see quot. 1842). double cone (Arch.): applied to a moulding composed of truncated cones joined base to base and top to top. double consciousness: see consciousness 7. double consonant (Phonology): two of the same consonant coming together, as in fully; also = double letter (a) below. double cream: cream with a high fat-content. Double-Crostic orig. U.S., the name for a type of word-puzzle (proprietary in the U.S.) in which the text of a famous quotation or literary passage is built up on a crossword-like grid from the letters of answers to cryptic clues, re-assembled as indicated in the puzzle. double cube (Archit.): a room of which the breadth is equal to the height and the length is twice the breadth; also attrib. or as adj. double dagger: see dagger n. 8, diesis 2. double date (U.S. colloq.): a ‘date’ (date n.2 2 c) involving two couples. double decomposition (Chem.): the simultaneous decomposition of two compounds in a chemical reaction accompanied by the formation of two other compounds. double demisemiquaver: a note of half the duration of a demisemiquaver; properly called semidemisemiquaver (Stainer & Barrett, 1880). double dot (Mus.): see quots. double drummer (Austral.) a noisy type of cicada. double elephant: see elephant 10. double exposure (Photogr.) [exposure 1 e]: (a) an accidental exposure of the same plate or film twice; (b) the deliberate superimposition of a second image on an exposure already made; (c) fig. double fault [fault n. 5 c]: two consecutive faults at lawn tennis, etc.. double feast: see feast n. 1 b. double feature [feature n. 4 a (c)]: a cinema programme containing two full-length films. double fertilization: see quots. double figures (rarely double figure): a total or score, esp. of runs at cricket, higher than nine and less than one hundred. double first (University colloq.): a place in the first class in each of two final examinations in different subjects; one who takes such a place: see first A. 7 c. double fleece (Austral. and N.Z.): see quot. 1933; so double-fleecer. double floor: see quot. double frame: (a) Typogr. = frame n. 11 c; (b) Cinemat. and Television: see quot. 1959. double-glazing [glazing vbl. n. 1]: the action of furnishing a window with two layers of glass to reduce the transmission of heat, sound, etc.; two layers of glass fixed in a window. double helix: a pair of parallel helices intertwined about a common axis: the postulated structure of the DNA molecule. double indemnity (U.S.) (see quot. 1948); also attrib. double jeopardy (Law): the placing of a person in jeopardy twice for the same offence, against which there is a common-law immunity. double knitting: (a) a type of knitting which is tubular and closed at both ends, used for ties, belts, borders of cardigans, etc.; (b) a thick knitting-wool made by doubling the yarn; also attrib.; hence double-knit, double-knitted adjs. double land (Naut.): see quot. 1867. double letter: (a) a letter of the alphabet denoting two sounds, as x (= ks), ψ (= πσ); (b) in Printing, two letters combined in one type, as ff, fi; † (c) a letter written on two sheets and charged double postage (obs.). double negation in Logic, a statement containing two negatives which, by mathematical analogy, thereby becomes positive in meaning. double nelson (see quot. 1889). double O (U.S. slang) [from the resemblance to a pair of eyes]: an intense look. † double organ: an organ with two manuals (obs.). double oxer: an oxer with a guard-rail on each side. double play in Baseball, a play by the defence in which two runners are put out successively by throws of the basemen. double pneumonia: pneumonia affecting both lungs. double point: in the Higher Geometry, a point common to two branches of a curve, or at which the curve has two tangents (real or imaginary); a node, cusp, or conjugate point; also an analogous point on a curved surface. double room: a bedroom for two people. double salt: a salt which is composed of two simple salts and which when crystallized has physical properties different from its components but which in aqueous solution behaves as a mixture of them. double saucepan = double boiler. double saw(-buck) [sawbuck] U.S. slang: (a) twenty dollars; a twenty-dollar note; (b) a twenty-year prison sentence. double shuffle: see shuffle n. 5. double sixes: (a) two sixes thrown at once with a pair of dice; (b) the ordinary game at dominoes, in which the highest piece is the double six; (c) a size of tallow candles. double snipe: sportsman's name for the greater snipe, Gallinago major. double-spacing: see double-spaced s.v. sense C. 1 and spacing vbl. n. 1 a. double spar: a name for Iceland spar, as being double-refracting. double-speak = double-talk, double talk b; cf. -speak and doublethink. double spread: short for double-page spread. double standard, a rule, principle, judgement, etc., viewed as applying more strictly to one group of people, set of circumstances, etc., than to another; applied specifically to a code of sexual behaviour that is more rigid for women than for men. double star (Astron.): two stars so near (really or visually) as not to be separately visible without a telescope; esp. when forming a physically connected system (distinctively called binary). double stem (Skiing): a position adopted for slowing down by making a point inward angle, i.e. by spreading the rear ends of the skis and bringing the front points together. double-stopping (Music): the simultaneous sounding of two notes (strictly, of two ‘stopped’ notes) on two strings of a violin or other instrument of that class; notes so played are called double-stops. double summer-time (see quot. 1962 and cf. summertime 2). double tens (pl.): name for a large kind of nail. to work double tides: see tide. double time: see 4 c. double U: (a) name of the letter W; (b) colloq., short for W.C. = water-closet. double vision: diplopia. double wedding: a wedding of two couples at the same time. double window: see quot. 1877.
⁋Also in many other phrases, as double bar, d. curvature, d. entry, d. Gloucester, d. question, d. refraction, d. shuffle, d. tooth, etc., etc., for which see the substantive element.
1905A. Bennett Tales of Five Towns ii. 246 He wants me to tour with him..and do a *double act. 1952W. Granville Dict. Theatr. Terms 64 Double-act, two vaudeville artistes, cross-talk comedians, or singers, e.g. the famous Layton and Johnson team of the 1920's. 1959Times 29 May 4/2 When their double act was done, having produced 87 runs..it suited Kenyon..that he soon had Gloucestershire in again.
1935R. P. Blackmur (title) The *double agent. 1941Koestler Scum of Earth 79 The sensational trial..had revealed an amazing scene of plots, intrigues, spies, and double-agents. 1960News Chron. 19 Feb. 3/4 A young Dutchman..said he was a double agent. He had joined the Germans only to get to Britain and there serve his country.
1970J. Lennon in J. Wenner Lennon Remembers (1971) 138, I don't care about the whole concept of Pepper, it might be better, but the music was better for me on the *double album. 1980Oxford Times 23 May 21/2 Beefheart was a friend of Frank Zappa, whose Joe's Garage, Acts II and III..is a double album completing the story begun in Act I.
1849De Morgan Double Algebra v. 117 All the symbols which in single algebra denote numbers or magnitudes, in *double algebra denote lines, and not merely the lengths of lines, but their directions.
1865J. Grote Moral Ideals (1876) 267 Conscientiousness..has a *double aspect, outwards and inwards. 1870S. H. Hodgson Theory of Practice I. i. 3 It was maintained that..the whole world of phenomena..had a double aspect, subjective and objective, was at once a mode of consciousness and an existing thing.
1909A. J. North Nests & Eggs of Birds Austral. II. 279 Stictoptera bichenovii... This Finch, the ‘*double-bar’ of Sydney bird dealers, is another instance of a species being found in coastal as well as the inland districts of Queensland. 1933Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Sept. 39/1 The grove of lemon-trees where, year after year, the double-bars had nested. 1959J. Wright Generations of Men 212 The garden where her pretty diamond-sparrows and double-bars and finches nested.
1956G. Bateson et al. in Behavioral Sci. I. 253/2 He [sc. a schizophrenic] has special difficulty in handling signals of that class whose members assign Logical Types to other signals... The hypothesis which we offer is that sequences of this kind in the external experience of the patient are responsible for the inner conflicts of Logical Typing. For such unresolvable sequences of experiences, we use the term ‘*double bind’. 1962Listener 6 Dec. 949/2 Serious troubles can arise when..a mother's normal life becomes subject to promptings from her unconscious... The child of such a parent finds himself repeatedly caught in a ‘double bind’, that is in a situation in which he is given simultaneous but mutually contradictory cues, so that whatever he does will be wrong.
1960Arch. Gen. Psychiatry III. 359/2 The emotional importance of the *double-binder to his ‘victim’.
1801J. Strutt Sports & Pastimes iv. ii. 240 One of them is a *double blank. 1868Sala Notes & Sk. Paris Exhib. iv. 34 The houses..gave to the outskirts of Paris an odd affinity to a city built of dominoes set on end. The double-sixes and double-fours, with here and there a double-blank in the shape of a dead-wall. 1927Wodehouse Small Bachelor i. 20 It has been well said of Sigsbee H. Waddington that, if men were dominoes, he would be the double-blank.
1919J. Buchan Mr. Standfast iii. 64 His device was apparently the *Double Bluff. That is to say, when he had two courses open to him, A and B, he pretended he was going to take B, and so got us guessing that he would try A. Then he took B after all.
1879A. D. Whitney Just How 260 Cut up and boil and mash..in a bain-marie, or *double boiler. 1950T. S. Eliot Cocktail Party i. i. 37, I suppose there must be a double boiler: Isn't there one in every kitchen?
1889G. M'Gowan tr. Bernthsen's Org. Chem. i. 49 The assumption that the affinity which becomes free at each of two carbon atoms, upon abstraction of the hydrogen, is employed in creating a ‘*double bond’ between them. Ibid. i. 50 By this term ‘double bond’ is not, however, to be understood a closer or more intimate combination. The olefines, on the contrary, are more readily oxidized than the paraffins, being thereby attacked at the point of the double bond. 1903Walker & Mott tr. A.F. Holleman's Text-bk. Org. Chem. I. §129. 150 The double bond must not be regarded as a mere doubling of the single one. 1944Hackh's Chem. Dict. (ed. 3) 286/2 Double bond, a condition which exists in unsaturated compounds where two single valence bonds connect two atoms. 1964N. G. Clark Mod. Org. Chem. ii. 14 The pair of valency bonds linking adjacent carbon atoms together..is referred to as an ethylenic or olefinic bond. When this type of linkage occurs between other atoms, it is simply termed a double bond.
1795C. Pettigrew MS. Let. 19 Sept., I think it will be best to send the *Double Chair. 1833Maryland Hist. Mag. (1918) XIII. 338 Dr. Smith..and Drs negro boy left Salisbury with two easy riding horses and a double chair. 1904P. Macquoid Hist. Eng. Furniture ix. 220 Double chairs or love-seats. 1934Burlington Mag. Oct. 163/1 An oak chair dated 1672..of unusual width, but hardly wide enough to be described as a double chair.
1684R. H. School Recreat. 91 Make a Change..The single, by changing two Notes..the double by changing Four..which is however called One *double Change, and not two changes. 1872Ellacombe Ch. Bells Devon iii. 39 About the year 1657, double changes came into practice.
1832*Double chin [see chin n. 1]. 1958Double chin [see astrakhan b].
1803J. Plymley Agric. Shropsh. 54 Coal, called the *double⁓coal. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 962 A section of the Quarrelton coal..showing the overlapped coal and the double coal. 1879–81G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Double-coal, a good coal for manufacturing purposes, much used. 1920W. Gibson Coal in Gt. Brit. 207 The Seven Feet Coal..is the chief coal, but below it the Double and Bench coals are workable.
1894Times 6 Mar. 4/3 The time of the piece is *double common time, but here and there a bar of three semibreves is put in.
1842J. F. Warner Universal Dict. Mus. Terms 26/1 We distinguish a concerto or concert for one instrument alone from a *double concerto, i.e. a concerto for two instruments together, (concerto doppio,) or indeed for several instruments together. 1958Listener 30 Oct. 706/3 The double Concerto in D minor.
1871Public Sch. Lat. Gram. §9 *Double Consonants, x, z.
1877E. S. Dallas Kettner's Bk. of Table 303 We have *double cream put in to sauces and soups. 1888Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. xxxii. 898 For whipping and making sweets it is usual to ask for double cream, that is thick cream that has stood on the milk for twenty-four hours instead of twelve. 1936Lucas & Hume Au Petit Cordon Bleu 161, 1 gill double cream. 1959Listener 2 July 39/2 Whip the double cream until fairly stiff.
1934Sat. Rev. Lit. (U.S.) 31 Mar. 598 *Double-Crostics, Number 1... This is the first of a series of ingenious literary puzzles invented by Elizabeth S. Kingsley for The Saturday Review. 1946Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 3 Dec. 25/1 The Saturday Review Associates, Inc., New York... Double-Crostic. 1967[see clue v. 4 a]. 1976Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 24 Feb. tm219 Janet Elliott Cameron, San Francisco, Calif... Double-Crostics. 1984T. Augarde Oxf. Guide Word Games vi. 62 Yet another type of crossword is the double-crostic, invented, by an American, Elizabeth Kingsley.
1776A. Young Tour in Ireland (1780) 265 He has built, besides other rooms..a drawing one.., a *double cube of 25 feet, being 50 long, 25 broad, and 25 high. 1930H. Nicolson Diary 5 July (1966) I. 51 Down to Wilton with Vita... Go with Pembroke to the Palladian bridge and look back on the house all lit up with the Van Dykes showing in the Double Cube (Room). 1969Guardian 19 June 13/8, I thought..about Inigo Jones's superb double-cube room. 1969P. Dickinson Pride of Heroes 38 Beyond the hall..was the Chinese Withdrawing-room, a double cube.
1931Amer. Speech VI. 204 *Double date. 1952S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) ix. 140 The ultimate triumph..was more often accomplished on double dates than otherwise. 1955M. Millar Beast in View xiv. 171 She had met Evelyn..on a double date with one of John's fraternity brothers.
1866H. E. Roscoe Less. Elem. Chem. vi. 56 The decompositions here effected may serve as the type of a very large number of chemical changes classed as *double decompositions. 1903H. C. Jones Princ. Inorg. Chem. xxvii. 323 Sulphates can also be formed by double decomposition or metathesis. 1957G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. I. x. 668 Krogh concludes that basaltic rocks in general take up CO2, calcium carbonate and silicic acid being formed by double decomposition.
1801Busby Dict. Mus., *Double-Dot, or Dotted-Dot, the Double-Dot consists of two points, one following the other. 1959Collins Mus. Encycl. 201/1 The double dot, first suggested by Leopold Mozart in 1756.., indicates a prolongation of the normal length by three-quarters.
1927Austral. Encycl. I. 269/2 In the Sydney district..the *Double Drummer (Cyclochila australasiae). 1952Chambers's Shorter Eng. Dict. Suppl., Double drummer, a large brown and orange cicada, remarkable for the large, swollen drums or covers to its sound-producing organs.
1892W. E. Woodbury Encycl. Photogr. 223 *Double exposure, an error often made by amateurs in unconsciously exposing the same plate on two occasions. 1911D. S. Hulfish Cycl. Motion-Pict. Work II. ii. 91 The making of ghosts by double exposures. 1912F. A. Talbot Moving Pictures xx. 225 The fairy..having been photographed only during the second exposure, appears at first very indistinctly. The result of the double exposure is shown in the illustration; and the gradual appearance of the fairy may be followed very easily. 1939Amer. Speech XIV. 271 The good pun makes a double exposure on the mind. 1958M. L. Hall Newnes Compl. Amat. Photogr. iv. 54 It is common nowadays for even simple cameras to have a shutter-film wind interlock which prevents blank negatives or double exposures. 1958Observer 16 Feb. 13/6 The treatment [of a film] seems a bit outmoded (all those soulful close-ups and double exposures).
1909Cent. Dict. Suppl., *Double fault. 1921A. W. Myers 20 Yrs. Lawn Tennis 128 A universal ‘Oh!’ echoed round the arena when Wilding served a double fault. Ibid. 156 He served half a dozen double faults and two foot-faults. 1955Times 2 July 2/7 A sad double fault gave Trabert all the assurance that he might have needed.
1934Webster, *Double feature. 1945T. Williams Glass Menagerie (1948) i. i. 28 Tom: I'm going to the movies... There's a wonderful double feature down at Loewe's State.
1909W. Bateson Mendel's Princ. Heredity xv. 270 The seed of maize is formed by a *double fertilisation. It consists of two parts, an embryo, and an endosperm... The embryo is formed by the union of one nucleus of the egg⁓cell with one from the pollen-tube, and the endosperm is similarly formed by the union of the united polar nuclei with another from the pollen-tube. 1916B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms (ed. 3) 118/2 Double fertilization, in angiosperms, when one male cell from the pollen-tube fuses with the egg nucleus, the other with the upper polar nucleus, and this last with the lower polar nucleus. 1959Foster & Gifford Compar. Morphol. Vascular Plants xix. 515 The participation of each of the two male gametes in a fusion process is uniquely characteristic of angiosperms, and is usually designated by the expression ‘double fertilization’.
1860J. E. Eardley-Wilmot Remin. T. A. Smith 251 Nor was Lord F. Beauclerk fortunate enough to mark a *double figure in either innings. 1875Cliftonian IV. 93 No one scored double figures. 1884Boy's Own Paper Summer No. 26 Watch the ball, keep your temper, and don't be afraid; For that is the way double figures are made. 1894Times 25 May 11/3 Mr. Mitchell for once in a way failed to reach double figures.
1861Trollope Barchester T. xlvii, A son from college with all the fresh honours of a *double first. 1868Holme Lee B. Godfrey xxx. 158, I shall come out a double-first.
1933Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 7 Oct. 15/7 A sheep that is missed at one shearing and comes in the next has a *double fleece. He is called a double-fleecer.
1904N.Z. Illustr. Mag. X. 48/1 Sheep annually evaded the shearing muster and remained among the scrub..to develop into ‘*double-fleecers’. 1921H. Guthrie-Smith Tutira xxiii. 224 We lived on..the fat wild sheep and double-fleecers.
1842–76Gwilt Encycl. Archit. §2019 A *double floor consists in its thickness of three tiers of timbers, which are called binding joists (these perform the office of girders), bridging joists, and ceiling joists.
1904Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 171/1 *Double frame, a composing frame usually made of deal and holding two pairs of cases at the same time. 1959Halas & Manvell Technique Film Animation 338 Double frame, one animation drawing photographed for two frames instead of one.
1943Fortune Mar. 182 *Double-glazing is quite a good insulator. 1957Housewife Sept. 23/2 The north and south walls consist almost entirely of Plyglass double⁓glazing. 1958Chambers's Techn. Dict. 974/2 Double-glazing, glazing with two panes separated by spacers and a layer of dehydrated air which prevents misting. 1960House & Garden May 69/2 Double-glazing prevents heat loss. 1971D. Devine Dead Trouble vii. 65 He added a sun lounge and installed central heating and double glazing.
1954Crick & Watson in Proc. R. Soc. A. CCXXIII. 89 (heading) Detailed configuration of the *double helix. 1962T. Dobzhansky Mankind Evolving ii. 37 If the double helix separates into two single threads each can re-form an exact copy of the original double structure. 1968J. D. Watson (title) The double helix. 1968New Scientist 19 Sept. 592/1 The symbol of the molecular biological age is without doubt the ‘double helix’ of DNA.
1924J. B. Maclean Life Insurance xiv. 257 *Double indemnity benefits require but a few words. 1930A. H. Mowbray Insurance xi. 170 Examination of the causes of accidents which will entitle the insured to double indemnity will disclose that these events are so spectacular..as generally to be given considerable publicity. 1948J. B. Maclean Introd. Life Insurance I. xiii. 219 ‘Double Indemnity’..is a provision for payment of double the face amount of the policy if death is the result of an accident. 1969J. Weidman Centre of Action (1970) viii. 91 It's for her own good. With a double-indemnity clause, which comes to twenty-eight dollars a year extra, she'll be financially independent at seventy-seven.
1910W. W. Willoughby Constitutional Law of U.S. I. §184. 439 It was held that by an act of Congress in 1902, the immunity from *double jeopardy for crime as provided in the Constitution had been extended to the Philippines. 1969M. L. Friedland Double Jeopardy i. 3 The history of the rule against double jeopardy is the history of criminal procedure. No other procedural doctrine is more fundamental or all pervasive. 1970H. Waugh Finish me Off (1971) 194 If we charge him and the jury lets him off, there's no second chance. That's double jeopardy.
1895Montgomery Ward Catal. 291/1 Fascinators, hand made, *double knit of Shetland floss. 1964Observer 12 July 8/4 The double-knit jersey revolution, which has gathered in phenomenal profits for a handful of bright ladies' knitters.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 243/1 Welsbach [gas] mantles..*double-knitted.
1855Mrs. Gaskell North & S. I. xii. 146 Mrs. Thornton..liked Mrs. Hale's *double knitting far better. 1911–12T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Fall & Winter 243/7 Beehive Double Knitting or Petticoat Yarn is a soft thick knitting yarn made of a fine quality of wool. 1938M. Thomas Knitting Bk. 165 Double Knitting. A Tubular Fabric constructed on two knitting pins is worked as follows. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 29 Mar. (Suppl.) 9/1 3 oz. Emu Romany double-knitting or Scotch double-knitting wool. 1970Guardian 24 Mar. 9/2 Regency Bainin double-knitting, for instance (used for our Aran tunic patterns) is available in twenty-four shades.
1712W. Rogers Voy. 275 The largest Island..appears to be high *double Land. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Double-land, that appearance of a coast when the sea-line is bounded by parallel ranges of hills, rising inland one above the other.
1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 303 note, Simonides..devised also these *double letters in the Greeke Alphabete (namely ξ. ψ. θ). 1753Scots Mag. July 328/2 The rates of double letters, are always double; of treble letters, treble. 1777Sheridan Sch. Scand. v. ii, The postman who was just coming to the door with a double letter.
1883F. H. Bradley Princ. Logic i. v. 131 (heading) The principles of identity, contradiction, excluded middle, and *double negation. 1888B. Bosanquet Logic I. vii. 324 The conclusion thus obtained..may be bonâ fide arrived at through the double negation I have described, and may be at first unsupported by the direct observation. 1961I. M. Copi Introd. Logic (ed. 2) ix. 282 Using the Principle of Double Negation (D.N.), which asserts that p is logically equivalent to ∼∼ p. 1969F. I. Dretske Seeing & Knowing ii. 57 Logicians are not tempted to abandon the rule of double negation.
1889W. Armstrong Wrestling 233 Probably the most dangerous move in Lancashire and Cornwall and Devon wrestling..is what is called the ‘*Double Nelson’... To get behind an opponent, place both arms under his, and clasp your hands round the back of his neck and thus bend his head forward till his breast-bone almost gives way. 1903J. J. Miller Scottish Sports 127 So Ingram slipped on a double-Nelson, pinned him down for the requisite 30 seconds, and then politely assisted him to rise.
1917R. W. Lardner Gullible's Travels (1926) ii. 48 So then I and Bishop knocked the street-car service and President Wilson and give each other the *double-O. 1957R. A. Heinlein Door into Summer (1960) i. 12 The cashier came over and leaned on my table, giving the seats on both sides of the booth a quick double-O.
1613Organ Specif. Worcester Cathedral, Y⊇..*double organs in y⊇ Cathedral church of Worcester.
1907Daily Chron. 12 Nov. 4/4 *Double-oxers, stone-walls..and broad ditches. 1958Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Jan. 63/2 Such technicalities of the chase as..double oxers.
1867Ball Players' Chron. 6 June 2/3 A *double play by Willard and Shaw..caused the Lowells to retire for a blank score. 1880N. Brooks Fairport Nine ii. 36 A double play for the ‘White Bears’..and not a run scored. 1968Washington Post 4 July C1/7 The Yankee second baseman..grabbed the ball, stepped on second and threw to first base for a double play. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 10 July 26/6 McCovey then bounced into a double play.
1892W. Osler Princ. Med. 525 *Double pneumonia presents no peculiarities other than the greater danger connected with it. 1929Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 100/2 Usually pneumonia affects one lower lobe but it may extend to the whole lung or even to parts of both lungs (double pneumonia).
1727–51Chambers Cycl., *Double point. 1872B. Williamson Diff. Calc. xiv. (1873) §206 No cubic can have more than one double point.
[1926F. Kilbourne Dot & Will (1929) 193, I would change to a single room in the hotel which was a little cheaper than the double one..we had.] 1931Times 1 June 10/3 A large *double room and private bathroom.
1849D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 176 These *double salts are known as manganese alums. 1948Glasstone Physical Chem. (ed. 2) x. 807 When a double salt can exist as a solid phase the behavior on evaporation depends on whether the compound is stable in contact with water or not.
1906Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. iv. 59 The *double saucepan is especially useful for making porridge and gruel. 1961Guardian 24 Mar. 12/6 Unless you have a very low heat on the top of your stove..it is really best to use a double saucepan.
1850Knickerbocker XXXVI. 297 Send me the two *double ‘saw-bucks’. 1925Writer's Monthly June 486/1 Double sawbuck, a twenty dollar banknote. 1926Maines & Grant Wise-Crack Dict. 7/2 Double saw, twenty dollar bill. 1929‘C. Walt’ Love in Chicago 25 ‘What'd it net yuh, State Street?’ I asked. ‘A little over a double saw-buck, 'n' I stuffed it all on Hip-Bones, 'n' she ain't come in fur 'er oats yet.’ 1936L. Duncan Over Wall i. 21, I learned quickly that a dollar-bill was a fish-skin;..a twenty a double-saw. 1945L. Shelly Jive Talk Dict. 24 Double sawbuck, a twenty-year jail sentence. 1948Time 17 May 87/1 Any tout or hustler around the track can usually work Eddie for a ‘double sawbuck’. 1950H. E. Goldin Dict. Amer. Underworld Lingo 61/1 Double-saw, double-sawbuck, a prison sentence of twenty years.
1870Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle 91 The ordinary game—technically termed ‘*double sixes’—is played with 28 dominoes. 1870Lond. Soc. Sept. 264 A small order for colza, or double sixes, or Souchong.
1840Hood Miss Kilmansegg, Her Honeymoon xi, A double barrel and *double snipes Give the sportsman a duplicate pleasure.
1899J. London Let. 7 Jan. (1966) 11 Surely the *double-spacing could not have led to a mistaken estimate of length.
1877Rosenthal Muscles & Nerves 15 Iceland-spar or, as it is also called, *double spar.
1957‘M. Buttle’ Sweeniad ii. 55 In the literary weeklies, the languages of criticism and theology have become one and book reviews all sound like sermons written in the most holy ‘*Double-Speak’. 1961W. Kaufmann in G. E. Myers Self, Relig. & Metaphysics 99 The theologians have a way of redefining terms in rather odd ways, and frequently engage in something best called double-speak: their utterances are designed to communicate contradictory views to different listeners and readers. 1970M. Pei Words in Sheep's Clothing i. 1 (heading) Double-speak in America. 1975Economist 4 Jan. 31/3 ‘Indicative planning’ in Japan means almost the opposite of the term in current British doublespeak. In Britain planning would obviously be politically popular, because it means helping uneconomic firms to survive in uneconomic areas. In Japan it is recognised that planning would obviously be politically very unpopular..since planning means killing uneconomic industries more quickly than ordinary market forces would. 1985Radio Times 28 Sept. 14/1 James Dean never consciously sought to be a god, or, indeed, a symbol for anything... The idea of heading a huge tidal wave of teenage revolt against the narrow, repressive, adult double-speak of the mid-50s did not occur to him.
1956F. C. Avis Bookman's Conc. Dict. 88/1 *Double spread, text matter or, more usually, an advertisement stretching across the whole of two facing pages.
1951E. Paul Springtime in Paris iv. 90 Without a robust *double standard, the admittedly loose women play a losing game. 1962New Statesman 16 Nov. 698/2 The greatest temptation into which the politically committed can be led is that of the double standard. 1963Auden Dyer's Hand 3 In relation to a writer, most readers believe in the Double Standard: they may be unfaithful to him as often as they like, but he must never, never be unfaithful to them. 1968R. Amberley Incitement to Murder vi. 176 He no doubt follows a double standard. One for business and one for everyday life. 1968S. Hynes Edwardian Turn of Mind vi. 177 The point about the double standard is made—that it is unjust of the husband to demand greater fidelity of his wife than he offers her.
1781Herschel in Phil. Trans. LXXII. 101 The second class of *double stars. 1890C. A. Young Elem. Astron. xiii. §462 Stars may be double in two ways, optically and physically..the majority of double stars must be really physically connected.
1936O. Schniebs Skiing for All iii. 33 The *double-stem (snow-plow position) is the brake in skiing.
1880P. David in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 459 The term ‘*double stopping’..is..indiscriminately used for any double sounds, whether produced with or without the aid of the open strings. The playing of *double stops is one of the most difficult parts of the technique of the violin.
1943Times Weekly 18 Aug. 5/2 *Double summertime ended early on Sunday, when clocks were put back an hour. 1962E. Bruton Dict. Clocks & Watches 61 Double summertime, introduced in Britain during the Second World War for economy. In winter the clock was one hour in advance of Greenwich mean time and in summer, two hours in advance of it.
1611MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., For haulfe a honndred of *dubell tennes, xd. 1717Tabor in Phil. Trans. XXX. 559 Large Iron Nails..not quite so long, as those we call double Tenns.
1599Thynne Animadv. (1875) 65 The latyne, Italiane, frenche, and spanyshe haue no *doble W. 1840Hood Miss Kilmansegg, Her Honeymoon x, A double U [i.e. W. = West] wind. 1885J. Payn Talk of Town II. 232 Doubleyous and esses. 1914C. Mackenzie Sinister St. II. iv. ii. 859 The double-u is just next your bedroom.
1889G. A. Berry Dis. Eye 504 The diplopia or *double vision to which the condition gives rise. 1922Encycl. Brit. XXX. 975/1 Paralysis of the muscles of the eye, producing diplopia or double vision.
1771Smollett Humph. Cl. III. 255 Every thing is now prepared for our *double wedding. The marriage-articles for both couples are drawn and executed. 1864C. M. Yonge Trial II. vi. 118 There was a proposal to join forces, and have a double wedding..the two school-fellows and two young friends. 1949D. Smith I capture Castle ix. 129, I accepted him and Rose and I arranged to have a double wedding.
1819M. Wilmot Let. 26 Nov. (1935) 31 We are..living at Vienna..with stoves and *double windows in our rooms. a1877Knight Dict. Mech. I. 731/1 Double-window, one having two sets of sash, inclosing a body of air as a non-conductor of heat and to deaden noise. 1908Kipling Lett. of Travel (1920) 133 The double windows are brought up from the cellar. 1949D. Macardle Children of Europe xiii. 205 The cold of winter is so intense in Hungary that people who can afford it have double windows.
B. adv.
1. a. To twice the amount or extent; in two ways or respects; twice, twice over, doubly.
13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 61 Þat day doubble on þe dece watz þe douth serued. 1382Wyclif Matt. xxiii. 15 Ȝe maken hym a sone of helle, double more than ȝou. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. ix. (1885) 128 Vndir a prince double so myghty as was thair old prince. 1540Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 22 §3 Many prebendes..bene double certified by y⊇ sayd commissioners. 1567J. Sandford tr. Epictetus 14 a, Thou shalte be double as much mocked and scorned. 1601Shakes. All's Well ii. iii. 254 Ile beate him..and he were double and double a Lord. 1712Spect. No. 527 ⁋2 Jealous ears always hear double. 1820Keats Lamia 611 Bright eyes were double bright.
b. phr. to see double: to see two images of one object, by an illusion or aberration of vision.
[1628Earle Microcosm., Self-conceited Man (Arb.) 32 His eyes, like a drunkard's, see all double.] 1651Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxix. 248* Words brought into the world, to make men see double. 1734Pope Ess. Man iv. 6 Oh Happiness..O'er-look'd, seen double, by the fool, and wise. 1840Marryat Poor Jack xxvii, It didn't prove a glass too much, or you'd have seen double.
c. In a pair or couple; two together, two at once; as in to ride double, i.e. two on one horse. So of a horse, etc., to carry double.
1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe (1871) 79 As this host of feather-mongers were getting up to ride double. a1613Overbury A Wife (1638) 94 He never drinks but double, for he must be pledg'd. 1678Butler Hud. iii. i. 569 Marriage is but a Beast, some say, That carries double in foul way. 1777Sheridan Sch. Scand. ii. i, Content to ride double, behind the butler. 1819Byron Juan i. cxl, To prove her mistress had been sleeping double.
d. Mil. In double time, ‘at the double’.
1833Regul. Instr. Cavalry i. 21 On the word Double March, the whole step off together.
†2. After a numeral, simply expressing multiplication: = (so many) times; -fold. (Sometimes pleonastic, as sevenfold double = sevenfold.) Obs.
a1325Prose Psalter lxxviii[i]. 13 Ȝelde to our neȝburs seven double in her bosme, her lackinge. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 113 He wolde yelde it ayenne an hundred double. 1548Udall Erasm. Par. Luke viii. 89 It..brought fruicte an hundred-fold double. 1698J. Fryer E. India and Persia 99 Cover them..with a kind of Felt..two or three double.
3. With duplicity, deceitfully. rare.
1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. iv. 179 If you should deale double with her. 1868Geo. Eliot Sp. Gipsy iv. 291 Thought played him double.
4. double or quit(s (Gambling): an expression implying that the stake already due is either to become double, or to be cancelled, according to the issue of another chance; hence fig. of a bold or desperate attempt to extricate oneself from present evils at the risk of greatly increasing them.
1580Sidney Arcadia iii. Wks. (1613) 242, I thought to play double or quit. 1626T. H[awkins] Caussin's Holy Crt. 406 Alexandra..resolued to play at double or quit, breake the guiues of specious seruitude, or yield her necke to Herod's sword. 1798Geraldina III. 205 He then offered to play double or quits. 1800M. Edgeworth Belinda vii, ‘I dare you to another trial—double or quit.’ 1894Ld. Wolseley Life Marlborough II. lxxviii. 316 He was no gambler at the game of life, and whether winning or losing he never wagered double or quits.
C. double- in combination.
There is practically no limit to the number of combinations with double- in any of the four groups below, the use of the hyphen in all of them being syntactical rather than lexical, i.e. it shows that the two words which it connects are in this particular context more closely connected than would be supposed if they were written separately: thus the two words double deck, used attrib., are written double-deck, and give the parasynthetic deriv. double-decked; hence arise such verbs as to double-bar, and pa. pples. of the type double-barred, which again blend with the parasynthetic forms: cf. double-hinged with double-barred.
1. Double adj. in parasynthetic combs. (with the meaning ‘having a double —, or two —s’), e.g. double-aspected, double-barred, double-battalioned, double-bearded, double-bedded, double-bladed, double-blossomed, double-bodied, double-bottomed, double-bunched, double-chinned, double-columned, double-curved, double-decked, double-doored, double-dotted, double-ended, double-eyed, double-flowered, double-formed, double-founted, double-horned, double-keeled, double-lunged, double-mouthed, double-natured, double-nostrilled, double-piled, double-pointed, double-sensed, double-sexed, double-shaped, double-sighted, double-soled, double-spaced, double-tracked, double-triggered, double-visaged, double-walled, double-weaponed, double-windowed, double-winged, etc.; double-brooded, producing two broods in the year or season, as some insects; also of birds; double-buttoned, having two rows of buttons (= double-breasted); double-coated, having two coats; double-footed, † (a) two-footed (obs.); (b) = diplopod (see diplo-); double-fronted, having two fronts, double-faced; double-leaded, (printed matter) in which the lines of type are widely separated by means of double leads; double-lived, having two lives or manners of life; † amphibious; double-threaded, of a screw (also fig.). Hence nouns of quality, as double-livedness, double-sidedness, etc. See also double-barrelled, -breasted, etc.
1876Mind I. 357 This *double-aspected Whole may be taken as the larger circle including either of the two aspects.
1767Byron's Voy. round World 8 Nuns..conversing with strangers through a *double barred grate.
1933R. Tuve Seasons & Months iv. 158 Janus *double-bearded (one of them forked) holds a nondescript object that is either bread or horn.
1631Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 220 Vnto *double Beneficed men, and Non-residents he was very strict.
1552Huloet, *Double bodied, bico[r]pus. 1874Knight Dict. Mech., Double-bodied Microscope, a microscope invented by Nachet, to enable several observers to view the same object simultaneously.
1664Evelyn Diary 24 Feb., We went on board Sir William Petty's *double-bottomed vessel. 1833B. Silliman Man. Sugar Cane 60 His apparatus is composed of a double bottomed copper boiler, covered by a dome.
1932E. Step Bees, Wasps, Ants, & c., Brit. Isles 195 Another *double-brooded species..is Claudius rufipes. 1953D. A. Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles I. 117 In the opinion of the above authority the species [sc. the citril finch] is..double-brooded.
a1618Sylvester Maiden's Blush 490 Upon his Camel's *double-bunched back.
1701Lond. Gaz. No. 3691/4 A lightish Drabdeberry Coat *double Buttoned.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 299 (Mätz.) Men..haueþ bocches vnder þe chyn iswolle and ibolled, as þey he were *doublechynned.
1922R. Leighton Compl. Bk. Dog xvii. 271 [The Cairn Terrier] must be *double-coated. 1935Discovery July 190/2 Some very promising results have recently been shown by sponsors of the Brewster process, in which an imbibation printing of yellow is superposed on a toned double-coated film. 1958T. L. J. Bentley in M. L. Hall Newnes Complete Amat. Photogr. vi. 91 With the double-coated films current in the mid-thirties acceptable prints could be obtained with camera exposures varying by as extreme a range as 2000 to 1. 1965Times 30 Aug. 12/1 They become the first company to offer sheet steel coated both sides with a p.v.c. film. The double-coated steel is called Stelvetite ‘R.’. 1967Karch & Buber Offset Processes v. 192 The paper usually used for a flat is 80 lb. double-coated goldenrod stock.
1840C. Brontë Let. in Mrs. Gaskell Life C.B. (1857) I. 212 Recording all their sayings and doings in *double-columned close-printed pages. 1861Double-columned [see columned ppl. a. 3]. 1959Brno Studies I. 137 Quoted from double-columned cheap edition.
1937Burlington Mag. May 258/2 The recent discovery in Shang-Yin tombs of *double-curved knives.
a1618Sylvester Wood-Mans Bear xliv, That faire *double-doored port.
1837*Double dotted [see dotted ppl. a. 3]. 1955H. Van Thal Fanfare for E. Newman v. 69 A frustrated counterpoint in jerky double-dotted rhythm.
1874Knight Dict. Mech., *Double-ended Bolt, a bolt having a screw-thread on each end.
1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. May 254 Deceitfull meaning is *double eyed.
1902Westm. Gaz. 22 Oct. 12/1 A perfectly formed *double-flowered ox-eye daisy.
1552Huloet, *Double-foted, bipes.
1667Milton P.L. ii. 741 What thing thou art, thus *double-form'd.
Ibid. xii. 144 The *double-founted stream Jordan.
1697Dryden æneid xii. 209 (Jod.) *Double-fronted Janus. 1965Bucks Examiner 3 Sept. 13/2 (Advt.), A modern double-fronted Detached Bungalow.
1552Huloet, *Double horned, bicornium. 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. Author's Pref., Their doublehorned argument. 1752Sir J. Hill Hist. Anim. 567 (Jod.) The doublehorned rhinoceros.
1858Bright Sp. For. Policy 29 Oct., They write it down in *double-leaded columns.
1600Surflet Countrie Farme 504 Such as auncient Writers haue called *double-lived beasts, that is to say, such as liue either in or out of the water. a1821Keats Ode ‘Bards of Passion & of Mirth’, Bards..Double-lived in regions new!
1647H. More Song of Soul Notes 160/1 Dizoia..*Double-livednesse.
1671Milton Samson 971 Fame if not double-faced is *double-mouthed. 1952C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil's Aeneid ix. 203 The double-mouthed pipe tweedles for addicts.
1742Young Night Thoughts vii. 1273 Two Kinds of Life has *double-natur'd Man.
1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 12 In your *double pild veluet.
1833J. Rennie Alph. Angling 69 A *double-pointed spear.
1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. iv. Columnes 130 The Criticall and *double-sexed Seven..Which Three and Foure conteineth joyntly both. 1873E. H. Clarke Sex in Educ. 149 Double-sexed schools.
1565Golding Ovid's Met. iv. (1593) 91 Their *double-shaped sonne.
1862Sir H. Holland Ess., Mod. Chem. 446 None, however, but a chemist can understand..the *doublesidedness of all the objects and relations involved in them.
1735J. W. Creed Expounded ii. ix. 253 Unless they are *double-sighted Folk, who see, what other People can discern nothing of. 1846Geo. Eliot tr. Strauss's Life of Jesus II. ii. vi. §79. 139 What..double-sighted beings, must Moses and Jesus have been, if they mixed with their cotemporaries without any real participation in their opinions and weaknesses.
1482Wardr. Acc. in Antiq. Rep. (1807) I. 62, vij pair of shoon..*double soled. 1640–1Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855) 149 Barnes' schoes, double-solled.
1956F. C. Avis Bookman's Conc. Dict. 87/2 *Double-spaced, that style of typescript in which the inter-linear spacing equals the depth of a line of typescript. 1963D. Heyes 12th of Never (1964) i. 8 He then continued typing to the bottom of the double-spaced page.
1575–85Abp. Sandys Serm. (1841) 389 That triple-crowned beast, that *double-sworded tyrant.
1909Westm. Gaz. 18 Mar. 4/1 The propeller is..made up of two portions of a *double-threaded screw. 1910Daily Chron. 28 Jan. 6/3 ‘A Will in a Well’ is a double-threaded mystery story. 1937E. Muir Coll. Poems (1960) 81 The double-threaded river That runs through life and death and death and life, Weaving one scene.
1887C. B. George 40 Yrs. on Rail v. 91 Accidents are reduced to a minimum, owing to good management and to the *double-tracked roads. 1967Times 23 Oct. 9/4 The management should..stop spending precious capital on converting double tracked lines to a single track.
1839Z. Leonard Adv. (1904) 70 In a hurry, the one that was accustomed to the single trigger caught up the *double triggered gun.
a1734North Lives I. 178 A *double-visaged ministry, half-papist and half-fanatic.
1630Orders for River of Thames in Binnell's Descr. Thames (1758) 66 No fisherman..shall..use or exercise any Flue, Trammel, *double-walled Net, or hooped Net. 1871Double-walled [see walled ppl. a. 1 b]. 1903Dublin Rev. July 169 The double-walled hydrogen vessel. 1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai v. 82 It was an earthenware double-walled beehive filled with water.
1552Huloet, *Dowble wynged, bipennis.
2. Double adj. in combination with ns., forming
a. adjectives or attributive phrases, in same sense as the parasynthetic compounds, as double-action, double-blast, double curve, double-cylinder, double-flow, double-furrow, double-motor, double-reduction, double-roller, double-shift, double-spiral, double-standard, double-zero, etc.; double-aspect theory, etc. (see sense A. 6 above); double-base powder, propellant (see quots.); double-beat sluice (see quot.); double-beat valve, (a) a valve in a pump constructed to afford two openings for the water; (b) a device in a steam-engine consisting of two connected conical valves between which steam is admitted so as to equalize the upward and downward pressure; also called double-seat valve; double-bubble fuselage, etc., the fuselage, etc., of a double-decked aircraft; double-digit orig. U.S., represented numerically by two digits, i.e. between ten and ninety-nine inclusive, esp. as double-digit inflation; double-figure = double-digit above; double-gate table, a gate-table with two hinged movable legs to support leaves; double-pole switch (Electr.) (see quot. 1940); double-tone ink (see quots.).
b. substantives arising out of the absolute or elliptical use of those preceding, as double-barrel, -face, -head, -leaf, etc.
c. substantives, as double-man, = double n. 2 c; double-ripper, -runner (U.S.), two sleds connected by a plank, used by boys for coasting down-hill; double-trouble (U.S.), a step of a rustic dance derived from the plantation negroes (Cent. Dict.).
1852Seidel Organ 36 *Double or triple-action bellows. 1856Mrs. C. Clarke tr. Berlioz' Instrument. 62 M. Erard invented..that mechanism which has given to instruments so constructed the name of double-action harps.
1879W. James in Mind IV. 330 The ‘*double-aspect’ school postulate the blank form of ‘One and the Same Fact’. 1909Hastings' Encycl. Relig. & Eth. II. 757/1 Ward..discusses..the Neo-Spinozism of the ‘double-aspect’ theory. 1931G. F. Stout Mind & Matter 82 This is the so-called double-aspect theory; according to it mind and matter are different sides or aspects of the same thing. 1960Discovery Oct. 62/2 The much discussed ‘double-aspect’ hypothesis of mind and brain.
1951W. Ley Rockets, Missiles & Space Travel vii. 172 The propelling charge in that rocket was a *double-base powder containing..nitrocellulose..nitroglycerin..and diphenylamine added as a stabilizer. 1960F. Gaynor Dict. Aerospace 75 Double-base propellant, a solid propellant which consists largely of nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose.
1874Knight Dict. Mech. s.v., The *double-beat valve is extensively used in England for deep wells and for high lifts. 1931F. M. Du-Plat-Taylor Reclam. Land fr. Sea 72 Double-beat or compensated cylindrical sluices.
1832G. R. Porter Porcelain & Gl. ix. 227 The table..has fixed at its bottom a small *double-blast bellows.
1947Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LI. 142/1 The cottage-loaf design of hull—or the *double-bubble section as it applied to the landplane—was a very good form for the pressurised cabin. Ibid. 174/2 The Brabazon fuselage was a 16-ft. circle, and the Saunders-Roe boat had a beam of approximately 16 ft... The vices of the double-bubble fuselage did not then seem immediately apparent. 1959J. L. Nayler Dict. Aeronaut. Engin. 116 Double-bubble fuselage, a two-decker airliner (or fuselage) with a cross-sectional shape like a figure eight.
1927Peake & Fleure Hunters & Artists viii. 126 The ‘*double-curve’ Ofnet skulls may..show us a stage in the evolution of broad-headedness. 1950H. L. Lorimer Homer & Monum. v. 284 From about 600 onwards the double-curve bow appears in connexion with mythological or heroic beings.
1874Knight Dict. Mech., *Double-cylinder Press..Double-cylinder Pump..Double-cylinder Steam-engine.
1959Time 31 Aug. 68 These three books were written by Shulman at the age of eight... Now Humorist Shulman, 40, has advanced into the *double-digit years. 1974National Observer (U.S.) 15 June 6/1 Living with double-digit inflation has become a problem for professional economists and politicians as well as for the American consumer. 1986Daily Tel. 17 June 12 Already many people in Britain have forgotten what life was like with double-digit inflation.
1966Sunday Times 26 June 28/7 Doctors, judges, M.P.s, ministers and senior civil-servants, who have all had *double-figure rises. 1987Times 8 Jan. 19/1 There were double-figure gains among many blue chips in the thin conditions.
1930Engineering 15 Aug. 189/2 There is..a *double-flow low-pressure turbine in tandem with a high-pressure machine. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 260/2 Double-flow turbine, a turbine in which the working fluid enters at the middle of the length of the casing and flows axially towards each end. 1961Aeroplane C. 394/1 Operational airline experience with the double-flow engine (this term is used here to cover both the British by-pass types and the U.S. and Russian turbofans) began just a year ago.
1807Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 118 The *double-furrow plough..will plough two acres and a half per day.
1908Daily Report 5 Sept. 8/2 A 3 ft. 6 in. oak *double-gate table.
1691R. Kirk Secr. Commw. i. §3 (1893) 9 Some Men of that exalted Sight..have told me they have seen..a *Doubleman, or the Shape of some Man in two places.
1910Chambers's Jrnl. 24 Dec. 55/2 A *double-motor aeroplane.
1920R. E. Neale Whittaker's Electr. Engin. Pocket-Bk. (ed. 4) 419 For the control of c.c. motors, *double-pole switches and fuses are commonly used. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 261/2 Double-pole, said of switches, circuit-breakers, etc. which can make or break a circuit on two poles simultaneously. 1951Archit. Rev. CIX. 62/1 The two-meter unit for both power and lighting circuits has one 60 ampere switch and one 30 ampere double-pole switch.
[1922Encycl. Brit. XXX. 950/1 The demands of large users of continuous-current power..are best met either by geared generators (steam turbines driving continuous-current generators through double helical reduction gearing)..or [etc.]. ]1957Ibid. XXI. 355/2 Later he [sc. Charles Parsons] followed this up by a ‘*double-reduction’ gearing which admitted of a still greater difference in speed of rotation between the propeller and the turbine. 1962Economist 10 Nov. 605/2 By re-rolling the plated steel—the double-reduction process—..American producers are making ‘thin tin’. 1963R. F. Webb Motorists' Dict. 80 Double reduction gears, a method of increasing the number of gear ratios by the fitting of a second two-speed gearbox separated from the normal box.
1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 145 A *double roller escapement.
1883Harper's Mag. Dec. 146/2 A large two-handed boy's sled—not what you call a *double-runner.
1884Manch. Exam. 22 Feb. 5/2 Mines..worked on the *double-shift system. 1891Labour Commission Gloss. s.v. Shift. The double or night shift system is that of working a pit both night and day, with two sets of hewers.
1928Peake & Fleure Steppe & Sown 96 *Double-spiral ornaments made of copper wire.
1867J. Laing Theory of Business iv. 46 The *double-standard system..causes one of the two metals to be treated as bullion. 1963Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Mar. 214/4 He was also a double-standard man. 1964E. A. Nida Toward Sci. Transl. viii. 158 The double-standard capacity of new literates who can decode oral messages with facility but whose ability to decode written messages is limited.
1904Mitchell & Hepworth Inks xi. 178 ‘Art shades’..are now much in vogue... A half-tone block printed in one of these inks,..appears as if produced by two printings. Such inks have been described..as *double-tone inks. 1954J. Southward Mod. Printing (ed. 7) II. xix. 251 Doubletone inks are an adaptation of coloured inks designed for printing illustrations. These inks..impart the effect of more than one colour or shade.
1858Greener Gunnery 420 *Double-trigger revolving pistols.
1807–8W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 79 No Long-Island negro could shuffle you ‘*double-trouble’..more scientifically.
1914E. Pound Let. 19 Jan. in Lett. J. Joyce (1966) II. 327 He has exactly twice as much sense as the common american editor, a sort of *double zero leaning toward the infinitesimal. 1964A. Wykes Gambling ix. 214 The American double-zero wheel..does have a definite pattern.
3. Verbs formed from double adv. in comb. with verbs (or from double adj. with ns.), with meaning ‘to — doubly, to provide with double —s’, as double-arm, double-bar, double-berth, double-board, double-bolt, double-charge, double-damn, double-darken, double-dike, double-ditch, double-dot, double-gild, double-glaze, double-hatch, double-load, double-man, double-moat, double-quickset, double-rack, double-refine, double-shade, double-trench, double-vantage, etc. See also double-bank, -bitt, etc. double-book v. trans. and intr., to make or accept two reservations, engagements, or applications for (a seat, room, etc.), esp. as an insurance against cancellation or failure of one of them (cf. overbook v.); to make simultaneous or overlapping appointments; hence double-booking vbl. n.; double-check v. trans., to check (something) twice, or in two ways, in order to minimize the chances of inaccuracy; double-date v. intr. (U.S. colloq.), to make or participate in a ‘double date’; double-declutch v. intr., see declutch v.; double-dig v. trans. (see quot.); so double-digging; double-dink Austral. = double-bank v. 2; double-fault v. intr., in Lawn Tennis and Squash Rackets, to serve two consecutive faults; hence double-faulter; double-iron v. trans., to shackle with irons on both legs (cf. double-ironed in 4); double-shuffle v. intr., to perform a double shuffle (shuffle n. 5); double-space v. trans. (see double-spaced (sense C. 1)).
1602How Choose a Good Wife v. ii. in Hazl. Dodsley IX. 84 My uncles *double-bar their doors against me. a1661Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 272 He was double barred: first because an honest man..secondly because an Englishman.
1966Times 27 June 10/3 Strike-bound vessels have been *double-berthed.
1874Rep. Vermont Board Agric. II. 512 My plan was to *double board and cleat the main body of the barn, having a basement or cellar under the whole barn.
1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) IV. 54 She double-locked and *double-bolted herself in.
1970Times 17 Aug. 5 Even when we *double-booked the rooms once and had to turn people away, they said ‘Never mind, dear, we know it's not your fault.’ 1976Milton Keynes Express 4 June 18/4 Last year the show was advertised but the puppeteer had to call it off because he had double-booked. 1981Business Week 7 Sept. 46/2 Some companies have already started to double-book cargo space with both NASA and the Paris-based ESA. 1983Economist 6 Aug. 25/3 Clerks double-book their barristers in the hope that one of the cases will be settled before getting to court.
1978Aviation Week & Space Technol. 24 July 70/1 Irresponsible passengers can well be expected to increase their *double-booking activities. 1984Computers & Electronics Dec. 80/3 The calendar..alerts you to conflicts of double booking by filling in exclamation points in a disputed time slot.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. iii. 129 Pistol, I will *double charge thee with Dignities. 1726Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 24 Fired my Piece..being double charg'd.
1958Amateur Photogr. 31 Dec. 2/2 (Advt.), You may..automatically *double-check your focus with your range⁓finder at the same time. 1969E. Lathen When in Greece ii. 13 For several hours, he and Leonard double-checked specifications.
1624Middleton Game at Chess ii. ii, That would *double-damn him. 1656Trapp Comm. Matt. ii. 22 If Turks and Tartars shall be damned, debauched Christians shall be double-damned. 1897G. B. Shaw Let. 7 Oct. (1965) 810 Damn the printer..blast him..double-damn him!
18..Lowell To G. W. Curtis (Cent.) Such natures *double-darken gloomy skies.
1946P. Goodin Clementine xxi. 194 We'll have lots of fun—we'll be *double-dating! 1951J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye vi. 50 I'd double-dated with that bastard a couple of times. Ibid. vii. 60 We once double-dated, in Ed Banky's car, and Stradlater was in the back, with his date, and I was in the front, with mine. 1952H. Waugh Last seen Wearing (1953) 12 Marlene and Peggy were double-dating that night with a couple of boys from Carlton College.
1933Jrnl. R. Hort. Soc. LVIII. i. 117 The soil should be *double dug i.e. two spades deep.
1842*Double digging [see bastard a. 8].
1470–85Malory Arthur vii. xv, *Double dyked with ful warly wallis.
1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang, *Double dink. 1942E. Langley Pea Pickers (1958) 26 We went double dinking on his white mare.
c1510Little Geste of Robin Hood in Arb. Garner VI. 453 *Double ditched it was about.
1897Outing (U.S.) XXIX. 377/2 Two mink had *double-dotted the course of the brook.
1921A. W. Myers 20 Yrs. Lawn Tennis 136 Dixon *double-faulted in the eleventh game and lost it. 1922W. T. Tilden It's All in the Game 118 Vincey took the first point on Dave's net but double-faulted away the next. 1927Daily Express 6 June 1 Tilden..double faulted. 1961Times 17 Jan. 14/7 At 8—all there came five empty hands with Amin, put out off the wood, getting in again and then double-faulting above the line.
1921A. W. Myers 20 Yrs. Lawn Tennis 78 The brilliant server and smasher became a *double-faulter and a snatcher at lobs.
1969J. Lowrie Heating & Insulation i. 17/1 *Double glaze French doors and other glazed doors in the same way as windows. 1977New Scientist 3 Mar. 529/2 It's no good saying they ought to insulate, double glaze and buy more coal.
1566in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 314 A cup of silver, *double-gilt. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 129 England shall double gild his trebble guilt. 1704Swift Batt. Bks. Misc. (1711) 244 The Clasps were of Silver double-gilt.
1633Shirley Bird in Cage iii. iii, That superfluous *double-hatched rapier. 1650Fuller Pisgah i. xv. 47 Places which have both flags and Asterisks..are as I may say doublehatcht with uncertainty.
1897P. Warung Tales Old Régime 42 Here, guard! *double-iron this man.
1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. xii. 56 If they be *double-manned, that is, to haue twise so many men as would saile her. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 127 The [ropes] are double manned.
1633G. Herbert Temple, Brit. Ch. x, To *double-moat thee with his grace.
1523Fitzherb. Husb. §127 *Double quyke-set it, and dyche it.
a1618Sylvester Spectacles xvii, *Double-racked with two divers Tortures.
1671Milton P.R. i. 500 Now began Night..to *double-shade The Desert.
1909M. B. Saunders Litany Lane i. i, Toeing, tipping, *double-shuffling, hopping. 1922Joyce Ulysses 513 He..doubleshuffles off comically.
1958J. Kerr Please don't eat Daisies 60 The necessity for *double-spacing the script.
1631Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 655 The Mannor house hath beene *double trenched.
1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) II. 25 The cage..was twisted and *double-twisted so fast with wire.
c1600Shakes. Sonn. lxxxviii, Doing thee vantage, *double-vantage me.
4. Double adv. in comb.:
a. with pa. pples. or ppl. adjs., as double-based, double-distilled, double-glazed, double-lanted, double-loaded, double loathed, double-refined, double-stitched, double-stored, etc.; double-cut, of a file = cross-cut a. 2; double-hung (see quot.); double-ironed, loaded with irons or fetters on both legs; double-milled, of cloth, milled or fulled twice to make it closer and thicker; double-screened (see quot. 1921); double-sided, (a) that can be or has been used on both sides, cf. double-faced a. 1 c; (b) = double-faced a. 1; double-struck, of a coin or medal, showing a double impression owing to having been accidentally shifted while being struck; double-sunk, double-worked (see quots.).
b. with pres. pples. or ppl. adjs., as double-biting, double-clasping, double-flowering, double-refracting, double-running, double-seeing, double-shining, etc.
c. with adjectives, as double-concave, double-convex, double-dark, double-double, double-fatal, double fitché, double-treble, etc.
d. with agent-nouns, as double-breather, an animal that breathes through two nostrils; double-goer = double-ganger.
1954K. W. Gatland Devel. Guided Missile (ed. 2) i. 34 Most of these, like cordite and ballistite, contain nitroglycerine—in which case they are known as ‘*double-based’ propellants. 1962Simpson & Richards Junction Transistors viii. 192 The uni-junction transistor or double-based diode.
1700Dryden Palamon & A. iii. 480 His *double-biting axe, and beamy spear.
1725Pope Odyss. xix. 264 On his breast, The *double-clasping gold the King confest.
1874Knight Dict. Mech., *Double-concave Lens, a lens both of whose faces are concave.
1693E. Halley in Phil. Trans. XVII. 965 If the Lens be *Double-Convex. 1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. viii. 199 A double-convex cross section.
1633G. Herbert Temple, Sacrifice xxxv, As Moses face was vailed, so is mine, Lest on their *double-dark souls either shine.
1705Lond. Gaz. No. 4132/3 *Double Distill'd Spanish Brandy. 1845Disraeli Sybil (1863) 280 Which made him hate Egremont with double-distill'd virulence.
a1618Sylvester Tobacco Battered 749 In nappy Ale, and *double-double-Beer. 1782Herschel in Phil. Trans. LXXII. 112 Not only double-stars, but..double-double. 1869Dunkin Midn. Sky 160 Epsilon Lyrae is..a double-double star.
1593Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 117 Their Bowes Of *double fatall Eugh.
1727–51Chambers Cycl. s.v., A cross is denominated *double fiché, when the extremities are pointed at each angle; that is, when each extremity has two points.
1883Harper's Mag. Apr. 726/1 The pure white blossoms of a *double-flowering cherry.
1910Westm. Gaz. 26 Mar. 6/2 Side windows and skylights, all of which are *double-glazed, in order..to guard against changes of temperature. 1939Archit. Rev. LXXXVI. 29 The double-glazed windows light the administrative offices. 1956Nature 21 Jan. 111/2 Much can be done by the suitable design of houses to reduce the artificial heat load required, by double-glazed windows.
1824Blackw. Mag. XVI. 57 The horrible notion of the *double-goer.
1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 584/2 *Double-hung sashes..those of which the window contains two, and each moveable by means of weights and lines.
1812Examiner 23 Nov. 752/2 He has been *double ironed and handcuffed.
1630Tinker of Turvey Ep. Ded., I have drunke *double-lanted Ale, and single-lanted.
1607Tourneur Rev. Trag. i. ii. Wks. 1878 II. 18 Her *double-loathed Lord.
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. i. ix. Girt with thick *double-milled kerseys.
1631Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 104 Religion is *double refined, pure and spotlesse without ceremonie. 1791T. Jefferson in Harper's Mag. Mar. (1885) 535/1 Double refined maple sugar. 1818Hazlitt Eng. Poets iv. (1870) 97 A double-refined essence of wit.
1873Tyndall Lect. on Light iii. 120 The *double refracting spar.
1931L. F. Pesel Eng. Embroidery i. 20 Such linens are not really satisfactory, and make this *double-running embroidery difficult. 1963Times 1 June 11/7 The early double-running stitch gradually being augmented by coral-stitch, satin-stitch [etc.].
1905Daily Chron. 4 May, *Double-screened Nuts. 1921C. E. Evans Hints Coal Buyers (ed. 2) 56 Double Screened coal, indicates coal that has been screened at the Colliery, and screened also over two open screens in the spout at the Dock Tip, that is to say, ‘Double Screened’ at time of shipment.
1580Sidney Arcadia (1622) 92 To see the sports of *double-shining day.
1907Captain XVIII. p. xxvii (Advt.), The Best Disc Records are *Double-sided 8½ in. 1934Mind XLIII. 270 Christian philosophy is undeniably double-sided, exhibiting a rational and a religious aspect. 1936Burlington Mag. Sept. 136/1 The double-sided panel from Valenciennes. 1956Nature 25 Feb. 391/1 A piece of double-sided corrugated paper.
1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 68 We were over-manned and *double-stored.
1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 89 [A] *Double Sunk Dial..[is] a dial with recesses for the hour hand and seconds hand.
1781Herschel in Phil. Trans. LXXII. 124 σ Orionis..A *double-treble star, or two sets of treble stars.
18..P. Barry Fruit Garden 100 (Cent.) When we graft or bud a tree already budded or grafted, we call it *double-worked.
Add:[A.] [6.] double bogey Golf (orig. U.S.) [bogey n. c], a score of two strokes over par for a hole.
1954R. T. Jones in H. W. Wind Compl. Golfer 302/1 Thrill with one's pars, be satisfied with a ‘bogey’, and continue on far from downcast after a ‘*double bogey’. 1986Golf Monthly July 26/4 Stewart finished with a double bogey and landed in a play-off with Bob Eastwood.
double bridle Horsemanship, a bridle comprising both curb and snaffle bits, each with its own set of reins; cf. Weymouth n. 2.
1850‘H. Hieover’ Pract. Horsemanship v. 79 The first I shall mention is, I fearlessly pronounce, the best for the generality of horses, in whatever way they may be used; namely, the *double bridle. 1938,1965Double bridle [see Weymouth n. 2] 1987Horse Internat. Mar. 16/1 Bank the horse with the snaffle rein if working in a double bridle.
double digits pl. orig. and chiefly U.S. [see double-digit, sense C. 2 below], a numerical value represented by two figures or digits (i.e. one that is higher than nine and less than one hundred); a quantity, rate, etc. expressed in this way; freq. in financial and economic contexts; cf. double figures below.
1974Business Week 28 Sept. 27 Service costs in *double-digits. 1986Financial Times 17 Oct. i. 3/4 At 5.9 per cent, current price inflation is a far cry from the double digits of 1980–84. 1991N.Y. Times 27 May i. 18/2 Inflation [sc. in Argentina] has dropped from triple to double digits and continues to fall.
double negative Gram., a syntactic construction containing two negative elements, esp. where only one is now expected in Standard English; either of the negative elements in such a construction.
[1775R. Lowth Short Introd. Eng. Gram. (ed. 2) 162 Two Negatives in English destroy one another, or are equivalent to an Affirmative.] 1820P. H. Pullen Mother's Bk. ii. 155 One of the *double negatives used by our ancestors is now generally superseded by the adjective any... Ex. I never gave him no cause of displeasure; that is, any cause of displeasure. 1917O. Jespersen Negation in Eng. & Other Langs. vii. 63 It should be noted that the double negative always modifies the idea, for the result of the whole expression is somewhat different from the simple idea expressed positively. 1926Fowler Mod. Eng. Usage 374/2 You may treat a double negative expression as though it were formally as well as virtually a positive one:—It would not be difficult to quarrel with Mr Rowley's views about art, but not with Charles Rowley himself (It would be easy). 1980Timmons & Gibney Britannica Bk. Eng. Usage ii. 220 At one time the double negative was acceptable in English... However, today in Standard English the use of two negative terms in one sentence brands the writer as uneducated.
double steal Baseball [steal n.2 3 b], a play in which two base-runners each steal a base.
1897N.Y. Tribune 6 July 2/4 Boston beat the Phillies..on hits by Duffy and Stahl, a *double steal and Lowe's single. 1986Daily News (N.Y.) 23 May m3/1 On an attempted double steal, the ball was thrown into left field and they both scored.
double time: (b) orig. N. Amer., (payment at) twice the usual rate for hours worked outside regular working time, esp. on Sundays and public holidays.
[1916‘Boyd Cable’ Doing their Bit iv. 63 Their haggling over 8d. or 8½d. an hour pay, or Saturday half-holidays, or double overtime for Sunday.] 1918in Monthly Labor Rev. (U.S.) (1920) X. 708 Week-day time in excess of 10 hours daily shall be compensated at the rate of time and one-half and Sundays *double time. 1973J. Wainwright Devil you Don't 14 The mechanics and panel-beaters working Sunday, double-time were included in the round-up. 1987Fortune 31 Aug. 71/1 He would promise to pay secretaries double time to work all weekend.
double top Darts, a score of forty made by throwing a dart into the double-twenty segment at the top of the dartboard; (a throw into) this scoring area; cf. double n. 3 s.
1936R. Croft-Cooke Darts (1937) vi. 36 *Double Top, 40, of course, i.e. double 20. Many players..start on the double 20, score on the treble and leave themselves the double on which to get out. 1965L. Meynell Double Fault i. ix. 82 Fifty-seven wanted, Albert. Your darts. Seventeen and double top will do us nicely. 1980N.Y. Times 1 June v. 6/3 The Swede drew ahead in the second leg, again leaving himself a double-top finish.
double-wide U.S., a mobile home consisting of two individual units joined laterally, esp. one set on a foundation and connected to public-utility services; freq. attrib.
1966Mobile Home Jrnl. Apr. 59/2 (caption) *Doublewides must be separated into two units and have open sides covered with plastic sheeting or boards before hauling. 1966Ibid. 99/1 At the beginning of this year, Stewart announced production on a doublewide expanding trailor. 1971Modular Housing Workbk. 130 Let us consider a ‘double-wide’ mobilehome with 1,368 square feet of living space. 1986T. McGuane To skin Cat (1989) 107 They were married up the Valley in August and moved into the double-wide on Rita's father's ranch.
[C.] [2.] [a.] double-density (*density n. 2 c).
1972Data Processing XIV. 131/3 The other new disc storage system from Telex is the 5600 *double density disc storage system. 1982Verbatim Autumn 21/2 A 5{oneon4}{pp} double-sided double-density diskette..can accommodate 360,000 characters of storage (nominally).
[3.] double-bogey v. trans. Golf (orig. U.S.), to complete (a hole) in two strokes over par; also absol.
1952Britannica Bk. of Year 666/1 *Double-bogey v., to take two more than par at a hole. 1970D. Schaap Masters 113 Then he double-bogeys the fourth to fall back to even-par for the tournament. 1986Orlando (Florida) Sentinel 27 May c2/1 Des Smyth of Ireland double-bogeyed on the third extra hole at Virginia Water, England.
double-clutch v. intr. N. Amer. = double-declutch s.v. declutch v.; also trans., to change the gear of (a vehicle) in this way; so double-clutching vbl. n.
1938Sportsman-like Driving (Amer. Automobile Assoc.) v. 54 If you are ‘*double-clutching’ while going downhill, you must speed up the engine much more than is necessary if you are ‘double-clutching’ when going uphill. 1954T. McCahill Mod. Sports Car v. 76 Many road-race cars now have syncromesh transmissions that do not demand the double-clutching required of old, but there are still jobs around that must be *double-clutched. 1958N. Levine Canada made Me ix. 190 He was watching the road and had to double-clutch every time he changed gears. 1966R. Thomas Spy in Vodka (1967) xix. 217, I double-clutched the Chevrolet and threw it down into third. 1984N.Y. Times 29 Jan. xii. 10/4 It is complicated, made more so by the need for double-clutching and matching transmission speed to engine revs. 1986Maclean's Mag. 27 Oct. 8/3 The program is based on teaching students such techniques as how to heel-and-toe (downshift and brake simultaneously) and double clutch (a more efficient method of selecting gears) at gradually increasing speeds.
▪ II. double, n.|ˈdʌb(ə)l|
Forms: see prec.
[In branch I, ellipt. use of double a.; in branch II, noun of action from double v.]
I.
1. A double quantity; twice as much or many; a number or magnitude multiplied by two.
a1300Cursor M. 7644 (Gött.) Dauid him þe doubil broght. 1393Gower Conf. I. 170 He saith that other have shall The double of that his felawe axeth. c1430Art of Nombryng (E.E.T.S.) 7 If thow truly double the halfis and truly half the doubles. c1500Three Kings' Sons (E.E.T.S.) 76 There were moo slayn of them by double than they were that assailed them. 1611Bible Isa. lxi. 7 In their land they shal possesse the double. 1726tr. Gregory's Astron. I. 350 The Arcs GL, LH..respectively the doubles of AE, EB. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 485 Ten, which is the double of five.
2. A thing that is an exact repetition of another.
†a. A duplicate, copy, transcript (of a writing). Obs. (chiefly Sc.)
1543Sc. Acts Mary (1814) 436 (Jam.) The auctentik dowble of thir our souerain ladeis lettrez of summondis. 1628Sir R. Boyle Diary in Lismore Papers (1886) II. 259 My laste will and testament, with a dowble therof, both signed. 1752J. Louthian Form of Process (ed. 2) 60 Of which Warrant, the Messenger..is..ordained to give a just Double..to the Prisoner himself.
b. A counterpart; an image, or exact copy (of a thing or person).
c. spec. The apparition of a living person; a wraith, fetch.
1798Geraldina II. 189 Lady Withers, who is this Lady's double, and attends her constantly. 1818Todd, Double..4. In modern times, used for resemblance; as, his or her double, meaning another person extremely like the party. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey iii. v, I fancy that in this mysterious..woman, I have met a kind of double of myself. 1827Hone Every-Day Bk. II. 1012 The fetch or double of the Göttingen student. 1871Proctor Light Sc. 294 The appearance of a double or ‘fetch’ has ever been held..to signify approaching death.
†d. pl. Two of the same kind; twins. Obs.
1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) v. x. 100 Gemini that ben cleped twynnes or doubles.
3. Technical senses.
†a. A step in dancing (obs.).
b. Bell-ringing. A ‘change’ in which two pairs of bells change places.
c. Double-headed shot, consisting of two balls joined (cf. bar-shot).
d. Name of a small size of roofing slates.
e. Name of a size of sheet-iron.
f. A kind of basket for fish: see quot.g. pl. A kind of thick narrow black ribbons for shoe-strings. (Caulfeild and Saward Dict. Needlework (1882) 156/2.)
h. Printing. An accidental duplication of a word or passage. i. Mil. A double pace: see double a. 4 c. Esp. in phr. at the double. Also fig. j. Whist. A game (at short whist) in which one side scores five before the other has scored three; (at long whist) in which one side makes ten and the other none; the stake in such case being doubled. k. Dominoes. A piece bearing the same number of pips on each half. l. Lawn Tennis. A game played by two players on each side; also two faults in succession. m. An actor or singer who takes two parts in the same piece; also an understudy or substitute. n. In many elliptical uses: e.g. = double agent, bed, bedroom, event, flower, game, letter, line, snipe, star, in which the sense is supplied by the context; also two ‘tots’ of whisky, two centuries scored by a batsman in one match. o. = double feast (see feast n. 1 b). p. Mus. = variation 14. q. Bridge. A call by a bidder's opponent involving doubling of the score for tricks bid and made with a bonus to the declarer if he makes overtricks and an increase of the penalty if he fails to make his contract. r. Double-screened coal. s. Darts. A throw on the narrow space enclosed by the two outer circles of a dart-board; the space itself.
a.1531Elyot Gov. i. xxv, A double in daunsinge is compacte of the nombre of thre.
b.1684R. H. School Recreat. 93 Another Way of Ringing Twenty Four Changes, Doubles and Singles on Four Bells. 1880in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 460.
c.1707Lond. Gaz. No. 4380/2 We gave him..our Broadside with Double and Round. 1726Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 167 Firing our double and round, which kill'd 'em above fifty men.
d.1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 396 The Doubles are so called from their small size. 1876Gwilt Encycl. Archit. §2211c, Table of the Names and usual Sizes of Slates. Doubles, 13 × 10 [inches]. Ditto, 13 × 7.
e.1887Daily News 20 June 2/6 Iron sheets are {pstlg}6 10s. for superior merchant doubles..galvanising doubles may be had at {pstlg}6.
f.1859Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 16 The ‘doubles’ of plaice, soles, haddock..A ‘double’ is an oblong basket tapering to the bottom, and containing from three to four dozen of fish.
g.1858Simmonds Dict. Trade 131/1 Galloon and double, a kind of silk material for shoe ties and binding.
h.1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Double (a Term in Printing) the mistake of a Compositor, that sets the same thing twice. 1784Franklin in Ann. Reg. Chron. (1817) 389 The outs, and doubles..are not easy to be corrected.
i.1860Russell Diary in India II. 329 (Hoppe) The men cheering, broke out into a double, and at last into a regular race. 1865Chambers's Jrnl. 213/1 Intellect not only marches, but marches at the ‘double’. Ibid. 470/1 Ellsworth detailed twenty men.., and went at ‘the double’ down Pennsylvania Avenue. 1869E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 393 The ‘double’ is never continued very long; it is stopped at the option of the commanding officer. 1883Army Regulations II. x. 242 A certain number of movements are to be performed at each drill at ‘the double’. 1961New Eng. Bible Acts xxi. 32 He immediately took a force of soldiers with their centurions and came down on the rioters at the double.
j.1838Dickens O. Twist xxv, That's two doubles and the rub. 1870Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle 30 (Whist).
k.1870Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle 92 (Dominoes), The person holding the highest double has the ‘pose’ or ‘down’.
l.1894Times 29 May 11/2 Lawn Tennis..yesterday, the singles competition..was played..The doubles will be played to-day.
m.1808S. W. Ryley Itinerant I. iv. 89 When the company is thin, and one actor is obliged to do two parts, we call that a double. 1818Sporting Mag. II. 14/1 It would be impossible to find what the players call ‘a double’ for Mr. Stephen Kemble. 1880E. Prout in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 460 Doubles..singers who under-study a part in a vocal work, so as to replace the regular performer in case of need. 1891Farmer Slang, Double..an actor playing two parts in the same piece. 1928Sunday Express 8 Apr. 4 Two ‘doubles’ were employed..for some small scenes in which Miss Thorndike..could not appear. 1960O. Skilbeck Film & TV Working Terms 42 Double, one who impersonates an artist (usually the star) in a shot either because of danger, or because they have superior ability in some required form.
n.1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 401 Brawling and wrangling..about a vowell, about a consonant, about a liquide: about a double. 1845Ainsworth's Mag. VIII. 213 A very gentlemanly [Londoner]..armed with one of Purdey's first-rate doubles [sc. guns]. 1873Bennett & Cavendish Billiards 107 Doubles are seldom played for at Billiards. 1878Newcomb Pop. Astron. iv. i. 436 Those [stars] which are catalogued as doubles. 1883Pall Mall G. 15 Oct. 1/2 The doubles are charged..8d. a night, or 4s. a week. 1883Sutton Cult. Veget. & Flowers (1892) 271 Frost will not hurt the single varieties, but the doubles will not..endure..a severe winter. 1890C. A. Young Elem. Astron. vi. §207 It was discovered that the line is really a close double, one of its components being due to iron, while the other is due to some unknown gaseous element. 1891N. Gould Double Event xxvi, Messrs Isaacs and Moses..were always ready to lay the double. Ibid., If he loses the Derby we may go for a recovery in the cup. But..Ike is confident he will win the double. 1902Harmsworth London Mag. June 438/2 The men who play both cricket and football well..the best ‘first-class doubles’ who were at Oxford or Cambridge. 1918E. Wallace Down Under Donovan xvi. 210 Mr. John President may yet pull off a double. 1920Field 2 Oct. 488/2 There were several ‘doubles’ (a fish on each of the two hooks used on the line) of red gurnet and bream. 1920G. Burrard Notes on Sporting Rifles 33 A hammerless ejector double rifle is the best and quickest to reload... Next come hammerless non-ejectors, and then hammer rifles, but a double is a sine qua non. 1921Spectator 19 Mar. 357/1 A few snipe rose. We got four of them, two being ‘doubles’. 1922J. Syrett Alf 99 ‘You've 'ad a lot of doubles to-night, Mr. Powell,’ Flo remarked... ‘Don't want to go 'ome screwed again to-night, does yer?’ 1929Star 21 Aug. 17/1 When he reached his second hundred of the match, for no batsman before has twice done the ‘double’ in Test Matches. 1931Times 16 Mar. 2/7 Large doubles [sc. bedrooms] now available. 1951Koestler Age of Longing ii. v. 264 Georges would..send him another double on the house. 1953Wodehouse Ring for Jeeves i. 16 A double, dear lady, is when you back a horse in one race and if it wins, put the proceeds on another horse in another race. 1957A. Grimble Return to Islands iii. 62 Her chance of pulling off the ‘double’, which is to say, first the miracle of her homing, and then the crowning marvel of her safe entry into harbour. 1959‘M. Derby’ Tigress i. 18 Keep an eye on her. Start off by assuming that she is a double. 1963New Yorker 29 June 46/3 (Advt.), The famous hotel Astor Singles from $9, doubles from $14. 1969‘A. Hall’ Striker Portfolio viii. 93 Being not only a potential defector but a double, he had broken down. 1971‘A. Garve’ Late Bill Smith i. 34 We've done very well to be left with only two singles and two doubles. That's if they all embark, of course.
o.c1690in Month (1882) Jan. 122 And his feast kept as a duble annualy upon y⊇ 2nd of Octobre. 1759Challoner Let. 4 May in E. H. Burton Life (1909) II. xxiii. 7 He..will come over to receive his consecration here: and therefore I should be obliged to you if you would obtain for him..a license to have this performed on any double. 1763Divine Office for Laity IV. 229 The Transfiguration of our Lord. A greater Double. 1850Vesper Bk. (Burns & Oates) Pref. 12 Doubles and semi-doubles have First and Second Vespers. 1885Cath. Dict. (ed. 3) s.v. Feast, Feasts are divided, according to their rank, into doubles, semi-doubles, simples, etc.
p.1806Busby Dict. Mus. (ed. 2) Double, a word which in the old music carries the same sense as that which we now give to the term variation. 1962Listener 26 July 153/2 ‘Ornamental variations’ disappoint us when, as in Couperin's airs with ‘doubles’, the embroidering fantasy seems less developed than in previous work.
q.1903in ‘L. Hoffmann’ Card & Table Games (ed. 3) 276 Something fresh is always cropping up; owing, perhaps, to the Declaration or to the Double. 1905,1927[see declarer 3 b]. 1958Listener 2 Oct. 541/2 North's double conventionally asked his partner to make some unlikely lead.
r.1931Times 16 Mar. 19/7 Lanarkshire [coal]..trebles..doubles..singles.
s.1935Encycl. Sports 221 Victory goes to the player who reduces his total exactly to nothing with a ‘double’. 1936R. Croft-Cooke Darts vi. 36 Double Top, 40, of course, i.e. double 20. Many players..start on the double 20, score on the treble, and leave themselves the double on which to get out. 1959Chambers's Encycl. IV. 381/1 The players must generally begin and finish on a double.
4.
†a. A small copper coin (value 1/6 of a sou) formerly current in France.
b. A small copper coin current in Guernsey, value 1/8 of a penny.
1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1589) 336 Socrates..sent him word, that a measure of flower was sold in Athens for a Double, and that water cost nothing. 1687A. Lovell tr. Bergerac's Com. Hist. i. 35 Most of them throwing a Double upon my Handkerchief. 1862Ansted Channel Isl. iv. App. A. (ed. 2) 563 Copper coinage in Guernsey..consisting of pence, half pence, farthings (called two doubles), and eighths of a penny (called one double).
II.
5. A fold; a folded piece of stuff. ? Obs.
1602Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. Wks. 1856 I. 28 Rowled up in seaven-fould doubles Of plagues. 1761Sterne Tr. Shandy III. xiv, Mantles..with large flowing folds and doubles. 1784Darwin in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 3 Another leaden ring..with some doubles of flannel placed under it.
6. A sharp turn in running, as of a hunted hare; also, of a river; fig. an evasive turn or shift in action, argument, etc. to give (one) the double: to give the slip, evade by stratagem. Slang phr. to come the double, to act in a treacherous or evasive manner; to put a double on (a person), to double-cross. See also quot. 1914.
1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 682 With what care he [the hare] cranks and crosses, with a thousand doubles. a1625Fletcher Woman's Prize iii. iv, All their arch-villanies and all their dobles, Which are more than a hunted Hare ere thought on. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 96 ⁋14 The quick retreats and active doubles which Falsehood always practised. 1813P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 79 A fellow who had tipped the double to some bailiffs. 1820Scott Monast. v, At every double of the river the shadows..obscured the eastern bank. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms II. xiii. 209, I didn't know myself that your Kate had come the double on you. 1914Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 29 Double, a conspiracy to deceive or defraud a victim; the ‘double-cross’. Example: He got the double. 1923E. Wallace Missing Million xvii. 143 And I ask you..if you would think a girl who could write as this young lady wrote to me, would put a double on me as she did.
Sense 3 s in Dict. becomes 3 t. Add: [3.] s. Racing (orig. U.S.). = daily double s.v. *daily a. 3.
1931N.Y. Times 15 Sept. 22/2 Only two men..held tickets on the double, which is governed somewhat along the lines of a parley bet. 1951[see accumulator n. 4]. 1967Atlantic Monthly Oct. 78, I hustled to the track, bet my ‘doubles’, and prepared to take my place in the sun. 1983Sporting Life 8 Mar. 1/4 David Nicholson and Peter Scudamore..brought off a 285-1 double on a day of shocks and spills at Windsor.
▪ III. double, v.|ˈdʌb(ə)l|
Forms: see double a.
[ME. dublen, doblen, doublen, a. OF. dubler, dobler, doubler, = Pr., Sp. doblar, It. doppiare:—L. duplāre (less common = duplicāre) to double, fold up, f. dupl-us double.]
1. a. trans. To make double; to make twice as many, as much, or as great; to increase or enlarge twofold; to multiply by two; to put two in place of one, as to double a letter in spelling.
c1290St. Brandan 602 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 236 We wolleþ þeos six dawes doubli al is wo. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 522 Hire grete bounte doubelyth hire renoun. c1425Craft Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 13 Begyn at the lyft side, and doubulle 2. þat wel be 4. 1522More De quat. Noviss. Wks. 78/2 He had leuer double his own payn. 1611Bible Rev. xviii. 6 Double vnto her double according to her workes. 1696Whiston The. Earth iii. (1722) 247 Mankind do double themselves in about 360 or 370 years. 1724De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 103, I doubled my pace. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 4 If either its weight or its velocity be doubled, its momentum will be likewise doubled. 1871Roby Lat. Gram. i. v. 22 To denote the length of a vowel..(1) They doubled the vowel. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 136 Ignorance doubled by conceit of knowledge.
b. absol. (In quot., to double the stakes.)
1669Dryden Tyrannic Love iii. i. Wks. 1883 III. 412 I am resolved to double till I win.
c. To amount to twice as much as.
1605Shakes. Lear ii. iv. 262 Thy fifty yet doth double fiue and twenty. 1666Dryden Ann Mirab. cxix, The adverse fleet, Still doubling ours. 1806Naval Chron. XV. 328 A number doubling that which she was calculated to carry. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 81 When his date Doubled her own.
d. Mus. To add the same note in a higher or lower octave to (a note of melody or harmony).
1731Keller Thorow-Bass in Holder Harmony 192 On..any..Sharp or Flat Note out of the Key, you double the 8th. 1877Stainer Harmony vii. §92 The minor seventh should not be doubled. 1880P. David in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 458 [The double-bass] often doubles in the lower octave the bass of the harmony.
e. to double a part: to act as the double of or substitute for (another player); to play two parts in the same piece; also fig. Also absol., to play two parts. In extended use, to become or act as a double agent (cf. double a. 6 and n. 3 n).
1800E. Hervey Mourtray Fam. I. 33 When she attempted to double the part of her mother, she..failed in playing the great or the agreeable lady. 1801Paris as it was II. xli. 60 Laforêt who (as the French express it), doubles Lainez, that is, performs the same characters in his absence. 1875Lowell Spenser Prose Wks. 1890 IV. 319 Spenser made all his characters double their parts. 1894Times 6 Mar. 4/3 Miss Rosa Green ‘doubled the parts’ of Martha and Siebel. 1918H. Croy How Motion Pictures are Made v. 124 A young man, doubling for a leading lady in a bit of hazardous fire jumping. 1928Daily Express 8 Apr. 4 Picturegoers should look out for the portions of the film in which Miss Thorndike was ‘doubled’ by other actresses. 1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage ii. 24 The various Scottish thanes have to double and treble—soldiers, murderers, messengers, and apparitions. 1949G. B. Shaw Sixteen Self Sketches vii. 39 The appointment of art critic to The World, which Archer was for the moment doubling with his regular function of dramatic critic, was transferred to me. 1959Times 8 June 13/3 The umbrella, which can double as a sunshade. 1962Listener 8 Mar. 253/1 His adventures at a small German court are ‘doubled’ and interwoven with the autobiography of a professor's cat. 1965R. Segal Crisis of India iv. 204 Travelling traders, who frequently doubled as money-lenders and so could dictate terms to their debtors. 1968‘B. Mather’ Springers xv. 160, I was already in a Red cell. I doubled for the Russians right from the beginning.
f. Chess. trans. To place two pawns or two rooks one behind the other on the same file.
1750‘A. D. Philidor’ Chess Analysed 4 He chuses rather to let you take his (Bishop)..tho' he suffers to have his Knight's Pawn doubled by it. 1806Chess made Easy (ed. 5) 71 One must always strive to hinder the adversary from doubling his rooks. 1891R. B. Swinton Chess for Beginners ix. 72 Sometimes it is worth while to effect an exchange of pieces, only to cause your opponent to double his Pawns in taking one of yours. 1958H. Golombek Instructions to Young Chess Players ii. 18 When two pawns of the same colour are in the same file they are called ‘doubled’.
g. Bridge. trans. and intr. To declare a double (double n. 3 q).
1894‘Boaz’ Pocket Guide to Bridge 6 The effect of doubling is that the value of each trick is doubled. 1898‘L. Hoffmann’ Card & Table Games (ed. 2) i. 312 The main elements of novelty in Bridge..may be classed under the following heads:—..3. Licence to each party alternately to double and re-double the normal value of tricks. 1902J. B. Elwell Bridge 111 Going over... The effect of ‘over’, ‘over’, etc., is that the value of each trick point is doubled, quadrupled, etc. 1906Bridge Pocket Book 13 After the trump declaration has been made by the dealer or his partner, their adversaries have the right to double. 1909Strand Mag. Jan. 71/2 The fourth player will be in a fine position, either to double the forced call or to overcall it. 1912F. Irwin Fine Pts. Auction Bridge 56 You can either double the two hearts or go to ‘two no-trumps’. 1928A. Waugh Nor Many Waters ii. 74, I called, ‘Three No Trumps.’ And the man on my left doubled. 1965Listener 20 May 758/2 North was hoping to play in Two Hearts doubled.
h. intr. To play two (or more) musical instruments. So to double (on): to play (an instrument) in addition to one's main instrument.
1927Melody Maker May 421/1 Fred Livingstone..belongs to the class that doubles on both saxophones and clarinet. Ibid. June 551/3 Miss Ivy Read leads on the piano and is supported by Miss P. Pax (violin), Miss Brightwell (banjo doubling saxophone) and Miss Sibruk (drums doubling 'cello). 1934S. R. Nelson All about Jazz iii. 68 It is usual to find only one [violin] in the smaller bands, except where the saxophones both double on this instrument. 1955L. Feather Encycl. Jazz ii. 64 A clarinetist would double on tenor sax.
2. a. intr. (for refl.) To become twice as much or many as before; to increase twofold.
c1320Cast. Love 1199 Þi joye doublede an hondrut folde. 1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 521 Say, for non-payment that the debt should double. 1684–90Burnet Th. Earth (J.) 'Tis observed in particular nations, that within the space of three hundred years..the number of men double. 1882C. Pebody Eng. Journalism xix. 145 The circulation doubled, trebled, quadrupled.
b. Of flowers: To become double (see double a. 1 d).
1882Vines Sachs' Bot. 542 When the stamens become transformed into petals (by the so-called ‘doubling’ of the flower). 1888G. Henslow Floral Struct. 299 The starved state of the plants causes doubling.
†3.
a. trans. To repeat or reiterate; to redouble; to make a copy or duplicate of (Sc.) Obs.
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 84 Crist techiþ..to have oure wordis þus, ȝhe, ȝhe, and nai, nay..þere he doubliþ his wordis, as if he wolde seie,—Ȝif ȝe seie ȝhe in ȝoure soule, seie ȝhe wiþ ȝoure mouþ. 1565Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 334 Thus he saith, and doubleth, and repeateth the same. c1645Howell Lett. (1650) I. 28 Pulling out the fatal steel, be doubled his thrust. a1662R. Baillie Lett. (1775) I. 174 (Jam.) Some of the advertisement I have caused double. 1718Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 406 I'll cause double over what account I have insert..and send up to you. 1805Scott Last Minstr. i. xxvii, Cliffs, doubling, on their echoes borne, The terrors of the robber's horn.
†b. intr. or absol. To speak with repetition of sounds. Obs. rare.
1382Wyclif 2 Sam. iii. 34 And doublynge togidre [congeminantes] al the people wept upon hym. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, ii. iii. 94 This knaues tongue begins to double. 1621[see doubling ppl. a. 1].
4. Mil.
a. trans. To increase (ranks or files) to twice their length by marching other ranks or files up into them. (The latter may also be the object.)
b. intr. Of ranks or files: To march up into the other ranks or files so as to double them.
1598Barret Theor. Warres iii. i. 37 What meane you by doubling your ranke and file? 1635W. Barriffe Mil. Discip. xii. (1643) 45 In the doubling of Ranks, the even Ranks are to double into the odde. 1684R. H. School Recreat. 55 They are held to double when the Rear is doubled into the Front. 1796Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813) 46 No doubling up, increasing, or diminishing the front of the column, must be made after entering on a straight alignement. 1833Regul. Instr. Cavalry i. 26 The left files double behind the right files.
c. trans. and intr. (colloq.) To couple or associate with (in the same quarters). Often double up. In Betting, to double the stakes.
1789W. Dyott Diary July (1907) I. 63, I was very unpleasantly situated, being obliged to double up with a jolly ensign, or to take lodgings in town. 1837Major Richardson Brit. Legion i. (ed. 2) 23 Another Captain of my regiment is doubled up with me. 1885W. Westall Larry Lohengrin iii. (Farmer), He..promised the steward a handsome tip if nobody were doubled up with him, i.e. if no other person were put into the same cabin. 1886Morley Stud. Lit. (1889) 108 The scientific lawyer is doubled with the Indian bureaucrat. 1940Wodehouse Eggs, Beans & Crumpets 29 You doubled up when you won, thus increasing your profits by leaps and bounds. 1952Times 21 Nov. 8/3 In favour of giving students a reasonable spell of living in college, without making them ‘double up’ on the staircases. 1958J. K. Galbraith Affluent Society xiii. 148 People cannot afford to own or rent their own homes and must double up. 1970R. Gadney Drawn Blanc vii. 82 ‘Doubling up again, Donnelly?’ someone said... The roulette wheel was spun once more.
d. intr. To unite in couples. ? Obs.
1614T. Adams Devil's Banquet 27 Some double in their companies, some treble, some troupe, none goe single.
5. a. Mil. intr. To march in double time, go ‘at the double’.
1890R. Kipling Wee Willie Winkie 19 So E Company.. doubled for the dear life.
b. To double one's effort or speed. (colloq.)
1887Bury & Hillier Cycling 104 He doubled to his work..and left the Cantab.
6. trans.
a. To add a second layer of material to (a garment); to line. spec. in Her.: see doubling vbl. n. 2.
14..Ld. High Treas. Acc. Scot. I. 203 (Jam. Supp.) A lang gowne to the Duk..viij elne of blak dammysk to dowbil it with. 1555Eden Decades 266 A thicke vesture..well dowbeled. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry i. iv. (1611) 14 No man under the degree of a Baron..may have his mantle doubled with Ermyne. 1766Porny Elem. Her. vi. (1787) 226 The doubling of Mantlings with Furs. 1852E. Ruskin Let. 26 Apr. in M. Lutyens Effie in Venice (1965) ii. 301 Very fine looking Russians..wrapped up in immense cloaks doubled with furs.
b. To line or cover (a ship) with an additional layer of planking.
1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 203 A useful Nail in doubling of small Ships. 1820Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 190 Doubling generally consists of the application of 2 or 2½ inches oak plank near the bow, diminishing towards the stern. 1840Evid. Hull Docks Com. 222 She was obliged to be doubled; to have timber put outside her in order to make her more stationary in the water.
7. Silk Manuf., Cotton-spinning, etc. To lay two or more filaments (of silk), or slivers (of cotton, wool, or flax), together, and compress them into one.
1831G. R. Porter Silk Manuf. 204 In the operation of doubling, these bobbins are placed in front of the winding machine. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 123 In fine spinning, the doubling of the fibres is sometimes 70,000 fold—for the purpose of producing perfect uniformity in the finished yarn. 1875Ure's Dict. Arts III. 794 The raw singles are first twisted in one direction, next doubled, and then twisted together in the opposite direction.
8. a. To bend (a piece of cloth, paper, etc.) over, so as to bring the two parts into contact parallel; to fold; to bend (the body, etc.) so as to bring distant parts into proximity; to close, clench (the hand or fist). Often with up.
(In quot. 1589, to close (the ears).)
c1430Two Cookery Bks. 39 Take a pese of fayre Canneuas, and doble it. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiii. (Arb.) 282 To solace your eares with pretie conceits after a sort of long scholasticall preceptes which may happen haue doubled them. 1665Hooke Microgr. 9 They double all the Stuff..that is, they crease it just through the middle..placing the two edges, or selvages just upon one another. 1694Dryden Love Triumph iii. i, The page is doubled down. 1778F. Burney Diary 3 Aug., He doubled his fist at me. 1874Blackie Self-Cult. 42 Bending his back, and doubling his chest. 1885Bible (R.V.) Exod. xxvi. 9 Thou..shalt double over the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tent. 1893A. H. S. Landor Hairy Ainu 54 Crouched as she was, doubled up, with her head on her knees.
b. to double up (a person): to make to bend or stoop, as by a blow; hence fig. to finish up, cause to ‘collapse’. (slang or colloq.)
1814Sporting Mag. XLIV. 278 Planting a blow on the side of Perrot, which doubled him up. 1883J. Parker Tyne Ch. 108 Never saw a man so doubled up [in argument]. 1891E. W. Gosse Gossip in Library xxi. 275 This master of science [pugilism], who doubled up an opponent as if he were plucking a flower.
c. intr. (for refl.) To become folded together or bent over; to fold, bend.
1650Don Bellianis 164 With such terrible incounters that the knight..doubled backward upon his horse. 1875Darwin Insectiv. Plants vii. 163 After 10 hrs. 15 m...the blade quite doubled up. Mod. His knees doubled up under him. The leaf has been folded, and tends to double over.
d. Billiards. (a) intr. Of a ball. To rebound. (b) trans. To cause (a ball) to rebound: cf. doublet 7.
1885Billiards simplified (1889) 50 If you..hit the red nearly full, so that it doubles down the table [etc.] Mod. You can double the ball into the middle pocket.
9. Naut.
a. (trans.) To sail or pass round or to the other side of (a cape or point), so that the ship's course is, as it were, doubled or bent upon itself.
1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 11 b, If you wil bring your shippe into the bay of Hardines, you must double y⊇ poynt of Gentilnes. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. x. 12 b, Having doubled the cape, we passed along. 1665Phil. Trans. I. 42 To go into the East Indies without doubling the Cape of Good Hope. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. v. 295 The invaders doubled the Land's End and ravaged Cornwall.
b. intr. To get round. to double upon (in naval warfare): to get round to the other side of (an enemy's fleet), so as to inclose it between two fires.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) A a ij b, The lee-line..cannot so easily double upon the van..of the enemy. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits v. 91 Nelson's feat of ‘doubling’, or stationing his ships one on the outer bow and another on the outer quarter of each of the enemy's. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Doubling upon..a hostile fleet..as Nelson did at the Nile. 1875F. Hall in Lippincott's Mag. XVI. 751/2 I doubled nimbly round a couple of corners, and paused again.
10. a. intr. To turn sharply and suddenly in running, as a hunted hare; to turn back on one's course; to pursue a winding or tortuous course.
1596Drayton Legends ii. 382 To the Covert doth himselfe betake Doubling, and creepes from Brake againe to Brake. 1690Dryden Amphitryon iv. Wks. 1884 VIII. 75 See how he doubles, like a hunted hare. 1724De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 95 He found the river fetching a long reach, double short upon itself. 1828D'Israeli Chas. I, I. iv. 87 The negociation doubled through all the bland windings of concession and conciliation. 1864D. G. Mitchell Sev. Stor. 306 They suddenly turned to double upon their walk again.
b. trans. To avoid or escape by doubling; to elude, give the slip to.
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict. s.v., To double a person..signifies either to run away from him openly, and elude his attempts to overtake you, or to give him the slip..unperceived. 1842Manning Serm. (1848) I. ii. 23 Skill in doubling all the changes of life, and in meeting its emergencies.
11. fig. (intr.) To make evasive turns or shifts; to use duplicity, act deceitfully.
1530Palsgr. 525/2, I double, I varye in tellyng of my tale... Nay, and you double ones, I have done with you. 1578Hunnis Hyveful Hunnye Gen. xii. 25 Why hast thou dealt thus craftely And doubled so with mee? 1624Trag. Nero iii. iii. in Bullen O. Pl. I. 54 Why with false Auguries have we bin deceiv'd? What, can Celestiall Godheads double too? 1649Bounds Publ. Obed. (1650) 35 Who have been..attent not to double with their God. 1820Scott Ivanhoe xxxv, If thy tongue doubles with me, I will have it torn from thy misbelieving jaws. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms III. xv. 229 How did you find out Warrigal's doubling on me?
12. trans. Short for double-bank v. 2. N.Z.
1947Book Miscellany (Christchurch, N.Z.) IX. 33 After tea, he doubled me to the station. 1963N. Hilliard Piece of Land 57 A bike came past: a big boy doubling a girl on the crossbar.
▸ intr. Pontoon (Blackjack). to double down: to double the bet after one has seen the initial cards, with the requirement that one and only one additional card be drawn. Also in extended use: to engage in risky behaviour, esp. when one is already in a dangerous situation.
1949J. Scarne Scarne on Cards iii. xv. 154 He doubles down on a count of 9 and he draws a deuce. 1956Jrnl. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 51 438 It is good strategy to double down on soft 12 when the dealer shows a five. 1987B. A. Powe Ice Eaters ii. ix. 147 He doubled down on a pair, lost, and turned on her with searing contempt. a1991J. Epstein Line Out for Walk (1991) 233 Let me double down..and see if I can't win some points for being a racist by asserting that, for some while now, black men have worn hats with more flair than anyone else in America. 2001N.Y. Times Mag. 10 June 77/3 Far from admitting defeat, Middelhoff is effectively doubling down. In February, he managed to persuade Mohn..to agree to sell a quarter of the company to the public. |