Daguerreotype. A kind of photography on plates of silver, named after M. Daguerre, the inventor.
Daidies, Gr. (from δαίω, to kindle). A festival held at Athens, during which torches were lit; it lasted three days.
Fig. 235. Dais.
Dais, Chr. An architectural structure, decorated with sculptures and ornaments, which serves as a canopy for an altar, throne, pulpit, chair (cathedra), statue, or group. Fig. [235] represents a stone dais of the St. Anne door in the cathedral of Paris.
Dais. In Anglo-Saxon houses, and generally; a covered seat of honour, at the upper end of the hall, on a raised floor. (“In all the houses of the wealthy in China there are two raised seats at the end of the reception-room, with a table between them.” Fortune.) (See Deas.)
Dalmahoy, O. E. A kind of bushy bob-wig, worn especially by chemists; 18th century.
Fig. 236. Ecclesiastical Dalmatic.
Dalmatic. A long robe or upper tunic partly opening at the sides, so named from its being of Dalmatian origin; an ecclesiastical vestment; also a portion of the coronation robes of sovereign princes. It was usually made of white silk with purple stripes, occasionally of other colours, the left sleeve only being ornamented; the right was plain for convenience. As early as the reign of Richard I., the dalmatic is mentioned amongst the coronation robes. (Fig. [236].) (See Colobium, Deacon.)