Dollar
an old German coin first minted from Bohemian silver in 1519 at Joachimsthal. The Joachimsthaler or thaler, for short, whence dollar, was for a time the European standard of weight and purity. The name was adopted by Spain and its colonies. Through trade with the West Indies , American merchants were more familiar with the Spanish dollar than with the English pound. Accordingly, when the American congress in 1792 established a system of coinage for the United States , the basis was made a dollar "of the value of a Spanish milled dollar, the same as is now current." The first actual American silver dollar, 1794, weighed 416 grains, and contained 371.25 grains of silver. The gold dollar contained 24.75 grains of fine gold at first, which was reduced in 1834 to 23.20 grains, and again raised in 1837 to 23.22 grains at which it now remains. The silver dollar has gone through several changes of weight. It now weighs 412.5 grains, 371.25 grains of which are silver. Since March 14, 1900, the gold dollar has been the standard of value in the United States. An English pound is worth $4.86 in gold; the silver bullion in a silver dollar is worth about 45 cents in gold. The dollar is the unit of coinage in the United States, British North America , Newfoundland, Liberia, and Mexico. See Coin ; Mint
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Dollart
THE, a gulf of the German Ocean, at the mouth of the river Ems, between Hanover and Holland. It is 8 miles long by 7 broad, and was formed by inundations of the sea (1277- 1362), which submerged 50 villages and several towns. In recent times much territory, especially on the flat German coast, has been won back from the sea.
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Dolliver
JONATHAN, PREN- TISS, United States Senator from Iowa, born in Preston county, W. Va., in 1858. He graduated from the University of West Virginia in 1875 and after studying law was admitted to the bar in 1878. He took an active part in politics and became well known as an orator. From 1899 to 1900 he was a member of Congress and in 1901 was appointed United States Senator to fill an unexpired to crops, sucking the juices of the plants term. He was elected to the Senate and preventing the development of from 1901 to 1907, and from 1907 to 1913. He was one of the most powerful and aggressive of the progressive group of Senators which opposed the conservative or reactionary policies of the Republican party. His efforts against the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Bill in the Senate in 1910 hastened his death which occurred in the same year. DOLOMITE (named after D. Dolomieu, a French mineralogist), a brittle subtransparent or translucent mineral, of a white, reddish, or greenish-white, brown, gray, or black color, with a vitreous luster. There are numerous varieties. Dolomite constitutes extensive strata, with limestone strata, in various regions. M. Dolomieu in 1791 announced its marked characteristics, its not effervescing with acids while burning like limestone, and soluble after heating in acids.
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Dolly Varden
the coquettish but warmhearted daughter of Gabriel Varden in Dickens' Barnaby Rudge . In the beginning of the story she is described as a "pretty, laughing girl; dimpled and fresh and healthful--the very impersonation of good humor and blooming beauty." After an interval of five years, she comes again upon the scene: "When and where was there ever such a plump, roguish, comely, bright-eyed, enticing, bewitching, captivating, maddening little puss in all this world as Dolly? . . . This same Dolly Varden, so whimsical and hard to please that she was Dolly Varden still, all smiles and dimples, and pleasant looks, and caring no more for the fifty or sixty young fellows who at that very moment were breaking their hearts to marry her, than if so many oysters had been crossed in love and opened afterwards." Dolly wears a cherry colored mantle and cherry colored ribbons. Her attire is always dainty and bewitching and gay. With no real descriptions of her costumes the author so frequently alludes to their attractiveness that the name, "Dolly Varden," has ever since been in use. In the early seventies a popular style of costume was named the Dolly Varden. A pointed bodice and a light muslin skirt, printed with gay flowers and tucked up over a petticoat of solid color, were the distinguishing features of the Dolly Varden gown. Dimity or other dainty fabrics of delicate color besprinkled with bright flowers are often called Dolly Varden patterns.
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Dolman
dol'man, originally a long robe worn by Turkish men and women as an outer wrap. In modern times the dolman is a woman's wrap, the special characteristic of which is a sort of cape hanging over the arm in place of a sleeve.
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Dolmen
a rude structure consisting usually of several standing stones capped by a flat stone. The name is from Brittany, meaning stone table. The deck or covering is ordinarily a single stone. A remarkable dolmen near Saumur, France, is 64 feet long, 14 feet wide, and 6 feet high. It is rectangular in shape. There are four pillars on each side, one at the middle of each end; and the deck is formed by four enormous slabs. The cover of a notable dolmen in Cornwall is a single stone 33 feet long. It is thought to weigh 750 tons. It rests on two stones. Dolmens are found throughout Great Britain and Ireland, France, Algeria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, eastern Palestine, and India. It is uncertain whether the dolmen was a sacrificial table or a place of burial. It seems to shade off into the burial mound formed by heaping earth over the structure and into the underground stone chamber formed by excavating and lining with stones. The dolmen is inclosed not infrequently by a circle of standing stones. See Barrow ; Stonehenge ; Carnac
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Dolomite
Magnesian limestone, a mineral consisting of carbonate of lime and carbonate of magnesia in somewhat varied proportions, the former usually preponderating with about 20 per cent carbonate of iron. See BASIC-PROCESS; LIMESTONE.
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