▪ I. dah, n.1
(dɑː)
Also dao, dha, dhao.
[Burmese.]
A short heavy sword, used also as a knife, especially in Burma; also attrib.
| 1832 J. Bell Syst. Geogr. IV. 588 A short sword called dah, having a blade of about a foot and a half in length. 1839 H. Malcom Trav. S.-E. Asia I. ii. iii. 247 Their chief tool, and one used for all manner of purposes, from the felling of a tree to the paring of a cucumber, is the dah. The handle is like that of a cleaver, and the blade like a drawing-knife. 1858 C. T. Winter Six Months Brit. Burmah xiii. 104 The Burman has few agricultural implements... A cart, plough, dah (or sword-knife), and sickle are about all he requires. 1859 J. W. Palmer New & Old 423 The Burmese dropped their..lances and dhars. 1876 Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. (ed. 3), Dhao, a Burman tool or weapon (half chopper, half sword) used in clearing jungle and in cutting down trees. 1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 163/2 The only implements of tillage being the dáo or hill knife, and a kodáli or hoe. 1888 Kipling Departm. Ditties (1890) 19 Amid the jungle-grass..grinned and jabbered Little Boh Hla-oo and cleared the dah-blade from the scabbard. 1920 Blackw. Mag. June 834/2 The two men were allowed to come on after they had deposited their guns and dhas. 1923 Ibid. May 569/2 They..are armed with..spear and dao. Ibid. Sept. 304/2 Thrust into his coloured sash were two silver-mounted dahs. 1947 ‘N. Shute’ Chequer Board v. 121 Many of them also wore their dahs, long straight steel blades with clumsy wooden handles. |
▪ II. dah, n.2 Chiefly U.S.
(dɑː)
[Imitative.]
In Morse telegraphy, etc.: = dash n.1 7 f. Also transf. Cf. dit n.2
| 1942 Tee Emm (Air Ministry) II. 143 To join the..throng who understand the dits and dahs of Q.D.M.'s and Q.D.R.'s. 1957 J. S. Bruner Contemp. Approaches to Cognition 60 One's limited immediate memory span requires one to deal first with the dits and dahs of single letters. 1970 Southerly XXX. 126 Beyond the road with its white morse of dahs along the spine..lay the sea. 1977 Sci. Amer. Dec. 42/3 The tapes offer a meticulous set of graded dit-dah practice sessions, half an hour each at 5, 7.5, 10 and 13 words per minute. |