Damara or Dammar. A resin used for varnishes. It is a valuable substitute for mastic.
Damaretion. A Sicilian coin, supposed to have been of gold, equal in value to a half-stater.
Damas (or Damascus) Pottery Ware. The commercial name in the 16th century for a large class of wares, now generally known as Persian.
Fig. 237. Specimen of Arabic Damascening (full size).
Damascening, or Damaskeening, is the art of incrusting one metal on another, not in crusta, but in the form of wire, which by undercutting and hammering is thoroughly incorporated with the metal it is intended to ornament. (See Damask, Damascus Blades.) The process of etching slight ornaments on polished steel wares is also called Damascening. (Fig. [237].)
Damascus Blades are prepared of a cast steel highly charged with carbon, which, being tempered by a peculiar process, assumes the manycoloured watered appearance by which they are known. The process is called Damascening (q.v.).
Damask. A rich fabric, woven with large patterns, in silk, linen, wool, or even cotton, originally made at Damascus. (See Fig. [88].)
Dames, O. E. The old name for the game of draughts, represented early in the 14th century. The pieces were originally square.
Danace (δανάκη). The obolus which was placed in the mouth of the dead to pay the passage of the Styx.