Dor'iméne (3 syl.), daughter of Alcantor, beloved by Sganarelle (3 syl.) and Lycaste (2 syl.). She loved "le jeu, les visites, les assemblés, les cadeaux, et les promenades, en un mot toutes les choses de plasir," and wished to marry to get free from the trammels of her home. She says to Sganarelle (a man of 63), whom she promises to marry, "Nous n'aurons jamais aucun démêlé ensemble; et je ne vous contraindrai point dans vos actions, comme j'espère que vous ne me contraindrez point dans les miennes."—Molière, Le Mariage Forcé (1664).
(She had been introduced previously as the wife of Sganarelle, in the Comedy of Le Cocu Iniaginaire, 1660).
Dorimène, the marchioness, in the Bourgeois Gentilhomme, by Molière (1670).
Dorin'da, the charming daughter of Lady Bountiful; in love with Aimwell. She was sprightly and light-hearted, but good and virtuous also.—George Farquhar, The Beaux' Stratagem (1707).
Dorinda. The rustic maiden, slow and sweet in ungrammatical speech, who helps plant corn by day, and makes picturesque the interior of the cabin in the glare of "lightwood" torches by night; turns men's heads and wins children's hearts in Charles Egbert Craddock's tale, The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains, (1885).
Dorine' (2 syl.), attendant of Mariane (daughter of Orgon). She ridicules the folly of the family, but serves it faithfully. Molière, Le Tartuffe (1664).
Dorla (St. John). A New York girl of great beauty and tender conscience, who is beguiled into marrying a country lawyer because she thinks he is dying for love of her. Having left out of sight the possibility that a loveless union leaves room for the entrance of a real passion, she is appalled at finding that she has slipped into an attachment to A Perfect Adonis, who has principle enough to leave her when he discovers the state of his own affections. Finding her a widow on his return to America, he presses his suit, and finds a rival in her only child, a spoiled baby of five or six years. Overcoming this obstacle, he weds the mother.—Miriam Coles Harris, A Perfect Adonis (1875).
D'Orme'o, prime minister of Victor, Amade'us (4 syl), and also of his son and successor Charles Emmanuel, king of Sardinia. He took his color from the king he served; hence under the tortuous, deceitful Victor, his policy was marked with crude rascality and duplicity; but under the truthful, single-minded Charles Emmanuel, he became straightforward and honest.—R. Browning, King Victor and King Charles, etc.
Dormer (Captain), benevolent, truthful, and courageous, candid and warmhearted. He was engaged to Louisa Travers; but the lady was told that he was false and had married another, so she gave her hand to Lord Davenant.
Marianne Dormer, sister of the captain. She married Lord Davenant, who called himself Mr. Brooke; but he forsook her in three months, giving out that he was dead. Marianne, supposing herself to be a widow, married his lordship's son.—Cumberland, The Mysterious Husband (1783).