d

the 4th letter of the Roman alphabet ; the cardinal number that is the product of one hundred and five ; a fat-soluble vitamin that prevents rickets ;

d'oyly carte

English impresario who brought Gilbert and Sullivan together and produced many of their operettas in London (1844-1901) ;

d-day

day of the allied landing in France, World War II ;

d-layer

the lowest region of the ionosphere (35 to 50 miles up) that reflects low-frequency radio waves ;

d. h. lawrence

English novelist and poet and essayist whose work condemned industrial society and explored sexual relationships (1885-1930) ;

d. w. griffith

United States film maker who was the first to use flashbacks and fade-outs (1875-1948) ;

d.a.

a doctor's degree with a special disciplinary focus ;

d.c.

the district occupied entirely by the city of Washington; chosen by George Washington as the site of the nation's capital and created out of land ceded by Maryland and Virginia ;

d.p.r.k.

a communist country in the northern half of the Korean Peninsula; established in 1948 ;

d and c

a surgical procedure usually performed under local anesthesia in which the cervix is dilated and the endometrial lining of the uterus is scraped with a curet; performed to obtain tissue samples or to stop prolonged bleeding or to remove small tumors or to remove fragments of placenta after childbirth or as a method of abortion ;

d region

the lowest region of the ionosphere (35 to 50 miles up) that reflects low-frequency radio waves ;

da

an official prosecutor for a judicial district ;

da'wah

missionary work for Islam ;

da gamma

Portuguese navigator who led an expedition around the Cape of Good Hope in 1497; he sighted and named Natal on Christmas Day before crossing the Indian Ocean (1469-1524) ;

da vinci

Italian painter and sculptor and engineer and scientist and architect; the most versatile genius of the Italian Renaissance (1452-1519) ;

dab

a light touch or stroke ; a small quantity of something moist or liquid; "a dab of paint"; "a splatter of mud"; "just a splash of whiskey" ;

daba

a Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad ;

dabbler

any of numerous shallow-water ducks that feed by upending and dabbling ; an amateur who engages in an activity without serious intentions and who pretends to have knowledge ;

dabbling duck

any of numerous shallow-water ducks that feed by upending and dabbling ;

dabchick

small European grebe ;

daboecia

a dicotyledonous genus of the family Ericaceae ;

daboecia cantabrica

low straggling evergreen shrub of western Europe represented by several varieties with flowers from white to rose-purple ;

dacca

the capital and largest city of Bangladesh ;

dace

small European freshwater fish with a slender bluish-green body ;

dacelo

Australasian kingfishers ;

dacelo gigas

Australian kingfisher having a loud cackling cry ;

dacha

Russian country house ;

dachau

a concentration camp for Jews created by the Nazis near Munich in southern Germany ;

dachshund

small long-bodied short-legged German breed of dog having a short sleek coat and long drooping ears; suited for following game into burrows ;

dachsie

small long-bodied short-legged German breed of dog having a short sleek coat and long drooping ears; suited for following game into burrows ;

dacite

a grey volcanic rock containing plagioclase and quartz and other crystalline minerals ;

dacninae

the honeycreepers ;

dacoit

a member of an armed gang of robbers ;

dacoity

robbery by a gang of armed dacoits ;

dacridium laxifolius

low-growing to prostrate shrub with slender trailing branches; New Zealand ;

dacron

a kind of polyester fabric ;

dacrycarpus

evergreen coniferous shrubs or trees of New Zealand to Malaysia and Philippines ;

dacrycarpus dacrydioides

New Zealand evergreen valued for its light easily worked wood ;

dacrydium

Australasian evergreen trees or shrubs ;

dacrydium bidwilli

New Zealand shrub ;