Dutch (?), a. [D. duitsch German; or G. deutsch, orig., popular, national, OD. dietsc, MHG. diutsch, tiutsch, OHG. diutisk, fr. diot, diota, a people, a nation; akin to AS. peod, OS. thiod, thioda, Goth. piuda; cf. Lith. tauta land, OIr. tuath people, Oscan<-- ??sic --> touto. The English have applied the name especially to the Germanic people living nearest them, the Hollanders. Cf. Derrick, Teutonic.]
Pertaining to Holland, or to its inhabitants.
Dutch auction. See under Auction. -- Dutch cheese, a small, pound, hard cheese, made from skim milk. -- Dutch clinker, a kind of brick made in Holland. It is yellowish, very hard, and long and narrow in shape. -- Dutch clover Bot., common white clover (Trifolium repens), the seed of which was largely imported into England from Holland. -- Dutch concert, a so-called concert in which all the singers sing at the same time different songs. [Slang] -- Dutch courage, the courage of partial intoxication. [Slang] Marryat. -- Dutch door, a door divided into two parts, horizontally, so arranged that the lower part can be shut and fastened, while the upper part remains open. -- Dutch foil, Dutch leaf, ∨ Dutch gold, a kind of brass rich in copper, rolled or beaten into thin sheets, used in Holland to ornament toys and paper; -- called also Dutch mineral, Dutch metal, brass foil, and bronze leaf. -- Dutch liquid Chem., a thin, colorless, volatile liquid, C2H4Cl2, of a sweetish taste and a pleasant ethereal odor, produced by the union of chlorine and ethylene or olefiant gas; -- called also Dutch oil. It is so called because discovered (in 1795) by an association of four Hollandish chemists. See Ethylene, and Olefiant.<-- = ethylene chloride --> -- Dutch oven, a tin screen for baking before an open fire or kitchen range; also, in the United States, a shallow iron kettle for baking, with a cover to hold burning coals. -- Dutch pink, chalk, or whiting dyed yellow, and used in distemper, and for paper staining. etc. Weale. -- Dutch rush Bot., a species of horsetail rush or Equisetum (E. hyemale) having a rough, siliceous surface, and used for scouring and polishing; -- called also scouring rush, and shave grass. See Equisetum. -- Dutch tile, a glazed and painted ornamental tile, formerly much exported, and used in the jambs of chimneys and the like.
⇒ Dutch was formerly used for German.
Germany is slandered to have sent none to this war [the Crusades] at this first voyage; and that other pilgrims, passing through that country, were mocked by the Dutch, and called fools for their pains.
Fuller.
© Webster 1913.
Dutch, n.
1. pl.
The people of Holland; Dutchmen.
2.
The language spoken in Holland.
© Webster 1913.