Chapter DEWAUNY to DHOBY of D by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

[The derivation of the word from Skt. Prachyas ‘Inhabitants of the east country,’ is supported by McCrindle, Ancient India, 365 seq. So the dhak tree possibly gave its name to Dacca].

1761.—“The pioneers, agreeably to orders, dug a ditch according to custom, and placed along the brink of it an abattis of dhák trees, or whatever else they could find.”—Saiyid Ghulam ’Ali, in Elliot, viii. 400.

DHOBY, DOBIE, s. A washer-man; H. dhobi, [from dhona, Skt. dhav, ‘to wash.’] In colloquial Anglo- Indian use all over India. A common H. proverb runs: Dhobi ka kutta ka sa, na ghar ka na ghat ka, i.e. “Like a Dhoby’s dog belonging neither to the house nor to the river side.” [Dhoby’s itch is a troublesome cutaneous disease supposed to be communicated by clothes from the wash, and Dhoby’s earth is a whitish-grey sandy efflorescence, found in many places, from which by boiling and the addition of quicklime an alkali of considerable strength is obtained. [c. 1804.—“Dobes.” See under DIRZEE].