doudlar

[Etym. doubtful.] The name given in Scotland to the roots of the Bogbean, Menyan thes trifoliata, Linn., an aquatic plant of a very bitter quality; sometimes used as a stomachic. "His turban was the doudlars plet, For such the Naiad weaves, Around wi' paddock-pipes beset, And dangling bog-bean leaves." Marte: A. Scott's Poems , p. 10. dou-dle, s. [Etym. doubtful.] The root of the "The batayle was dotous ." Gower, iii. 210. Richard Cœur de Lion , 4,839. dôuçe, dõuse, a. [Fr. doux (m.), douce (f.)= soft, mild.] *1. Soft, soothing, sweet. (Applied to music, .) "The douce sounde of harpes."- Forbes : On the Revela *2. Sweet, dear. many things that are doubtful; as everything in the tion, p. 126. world is exposed to change, and all that is future is entirely above our control, we must naturally expect to find everything uncertain but what we see pa ing before us. Precarious , from the Latin pre carius and precor , to pray, signifies granted to entreaty, depending on the will or humor of another, whence it is applicable to whatever is obtained from others. Precarious is the highest species of uncertainty, applied to such things as depend on future casualties in opposition to that which is fixed and determined by design. The weather is uncertain; the subsistence of a person who has no stated income or source of living must be precari ous. It is uncertain what day a thing may take place, until it is determined; there is nothing more precarious than what depends upon the favor of princes." (Crabb: Eng. Synon .) -ly .]