Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Anything made by delving or digging; a mine, quarry, pit, ditch, channel, etc.
- n. A catch-water drain; in a sea-embankment, the drain on the landward side. Also improperly written delph.
- n. A bed of coal or of ironstone.
- n. In heraldry, a square supposed to represent a sod of turf used as a bearing. It is one of the so-called abatements of honor, and as such is modern and false heraldry. See abatement, 3.
- n. Delftware. See ware.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. obsolete A mine; a quarry; a pit dug; a ditch.
- n. Same as delftware.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an excavation; usually a quarry or mine
Etymologies
- From Middle English delf ("a quarry, clay pit, hole; an artificial watercourse, a canal, a ditch, a trench; a grave; a pitfall"), from Old English delf, see below (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The fragments of pottery include specimens plainly not of Indian manufacture, such as fragments of porcelain, and that variety of glazed ware known as delf, and lastly, the neck of a glass bottle.”
“Je resiste pour ne pas acheter un kid delf ani boy mais c dur mais je tiens et de toute facon je ne vois pas trop ce que j'en ferais!”
“Blind Girl never knew that ugly shapes of delf and earthenware were on the board; that sorrow and faintheartedness were in the house; that”
“At this minute, Mr. Gale entered from the front shop to show a customer some delf plates; and he did not see — but WE”
““The parishioners about here,” continued Mrs. Day, not looking at any living being, but snatching up the brown delf tea-things,”
“If you were a slightly nervous Israeli soldier, would you wait until he was really close before seeing if he was going to delf-detonate?”
““Five nothings on five plates of delf” made her supper.”
“The following morning, having drunk his coffee, Maurice pushed back the metal tray on which the delf-ware stood, and remained sitting idle with his hands before him.”
“‘Oh, no; the delf cups and saucers; — it will be twice as good in them;’ and as the handsome mistress of the mansion, sitting in the deal chair, loosened her cloak and untied her bonnet, she chatted away, to the edification of Margery and the amusement of both.”
“I'm sure we had before our eyes at different times every bit of china, delf, glass, and plate in the establishment.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘delf’.
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phrontistery - d
from phrontistery.info
dacnomania, dacoitage, dacryops, dactylioglyph, dactyliology, dactyliomancy, dactylogram, dactylography, dactyloid, dactylology, dactylomancy, dactylomegaly and 624 more...
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List of Heraldry Terms
Words and phrases used in blazoning heraldic devices, along with names and other terms associated with the art and science.
Other similar lists can be found on Wordnik, especially that...seiant, duciper, bourdon, pouch, scrip, staff, ananas, besant d'argent, roundle, roundel, argent, allocamelus and 743 more...
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use•ful
palmary, glossolalia, bothum, high-proof, synesthesia, odious, autochthonous, yawp, mordacious, dynamo, dishevel, titely and 414 more...
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W.E.L.D.E.R.
réchauffé, gast, dere, heller, arête, wair, tut, shad, tipi, emeu, codon, unco and 65 more...
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