| Word/Phrase | Definition | Useage |
|---|
| då | then | Swedish |
| dag | day | Swedish |
| dagkarl | day laborer | Swedish |
| Dagmaker | Maker of pistols | Scot.Occup |
| Daguerreotype Artist | Early photographer - derived from Daguerre's method | UK Occupation |
| Dairymaid | Woman or girl employed to milk cows, make butter in dairy | Scot.Occup |
| dal | valley | Swedish |
| Damster | Dam builder - for logging | UK Occupation |
| Danmark | Denmark | Swedish |
| danneman | farmer, gentleman | Swedish |
| dansk | danish | Swedish |
| Danter | Female overseer in silk winding room | UK Occupation |
| Dapifer | Steward in a royal or noble house | Scot.Occup |
| där | there | Swedish |
| Darner | Repaired holes or gaps in textile garments, typically stockings. | Scot.Occup |
| därstädes | (of) that place | Swedish |
| Dateler/Dataller/Day Man/ Daytaleman/Day Labourer | Casual worker, employed on a daily basis | UK Occupation |
| datum | date | Swedish |
| Dauber/Dawber | Made Wattle & Daub walls using 'Lute', a tenacious clay. | UK Occupation |
| daughter-in-law | The wife of a person's son | Colonial Diseases |
| Daughter-in-law | Wife of one's son. | General |
| Day fever | Fever lasting one day; sweating sickness | Medical |
| Day-maid | Dairymaid | UK Occupation |
| de där | those | Swedish |
| de här | these | Swedish |
| de | they | Swedish |
| Deal Porter | A specialistworker in the docks - mainly London, handling baulks of softwood or 'deal' between ship and shore. | UK Occupation |
| Death | The moment a person dies. | Genealogy |
| Deathsman | Executioner - very popular! | UK Occupation |
| Debarkation | Departure from a vessel or aircraft. | Genealogy |
| Debility | Lack of movement or staying in bed | Medical |
| Deceased | Dead. | General |
| Decedent | A deceased person. | General |
| december | December | Swedish |
| décembre | December | Germany/French |
| Decimer / Dozener | Elected by householders in a street to represent them at the Court Leet | UK Occupation |
| Declaration of intention | First paper, sworn to and filed in court, by an alien stating that he wants to become a citizen. | General |
| Decoyman | Decoyed wild fowl, animals, into a trap or within shooting range | UK Occupation |
| Decrepitude | Feebleness due to old age | Medical |
| Decretist | Knowledgeable in decrees (decretals) | UK Occupation |
| deed | A signed and usually sealed instrument containing some legal transfer, bargain, or contract. | Colonial Diseases |
| deja | maidservant, milkmaid | Swedish |
| Delaine Weaver | Made delaine, a light all-wool cloth of plain weave, usually printed. From the French laine, meaning wool. De laine - 'from wool' | UK Occupation |
| Delfman | Sold 'Delf', which is earthenware from Delft, Holland. | UK Occupation |
| Delfsman / Delphman | Worker in quarries or open pits, usually quarrying stone | UK Occupation |
| delinqventer | delinquent, criminal (old spellling) | Swedish |
| Delirium tremens | Hallucinations due to alcoholism | Medical |
| Delver | Ditch digger - also a worker in a stone quarry. | UK Occupation |
| demoiselle | Miss | Swedish |
| Dempster/Demster | Judge | UK Occupation |
| Dempster | One who pronounces judgement - a doomster (judge) | Scot.Occup |
| den där | that | Swedish |
| den här | this | Swedish |
| den | the, it | Swedish |
| Dengue | Infectious fever endemic to East Africa | Medical |
| Dental Mechanic | Made false teeth - a very skilled job (Mechanic meant a craftsman or artisan) | UK Occupation |
| Dentition | Cutting of teeth | Medical |
| Depater | Refined precious metals | UK Occupation |
| Deplumation | Is falling of eyelashes as result of disease (not the disease itself). Tumor of the eyelids which causes hair loss | Medical |
| Deposition | A testifying or testimony taken down in writing under oath of affirmation in reply to interrogatories, before a competent officer to replace the oral testimony of a witness. | General |
| Deputy | Pit workers' safety officer | UK Occupation |
| deras | their | Swedish |
| descendant | A person who is an offspring, however remote, of a certain ancestor or family | Colonial Diseases |
| Descendants | A person's children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren and so on. | Genealogy |
| descent | Lineage, ancestry | Colonial Diseases |
| dess | his, her, its | Swedish |
| det där | that | Swedish |
| det här | this | Swedish |
| det | the, it | Swedish |
| Devil | Printer's errand boy | UK Occupation |
| Deviller | Operated a 'devil' - a machine that tore rags in the textile industry | UK Occupation |
| Devise | Gift of real property by will. | General |
| Devisee | One to whom real property (land) is given in a will. | General |
| Devisor | One who gives real property in a will. | General |
| Dexter | Dyer | UK Occupation |
| Dey Wife | Female dairy worker | UK Occupation |
| Dezember | December | Germany/Italian |
| Diabetes mellitus | Disorder characterised by elevated blood sugar levels | Scot.Dise 1855 |
| diarre | diarrhea | Swedish |
| Diary fever | A fever that lasts one day | Medical |
| dicembre | December | Italian |
| diciembre | December | Spanish |
| Die Sinker | When forging metals, lays out, machines, and finishes impression cavities in die blocks to produce forging dies, following blueprints and applying knowledge of die sinking | UK Occupation |
| Digger | 1) Coal face worker 2) Day labourer in slate of stone quarries | UK Occupation |
| Dikeman / Dykeman | Ditch digger or hedger | UK Occupation |
| Diker/ Dyker | Builder of dry stone walls | Scot.Occup |
| Diphtheria | Contagious disease of the throat | Medical |
| Dipper | Glazed goods in the pottery | UK Occupation |
| directory | A book listing the names, addresses, occupations etc., of a specific group of people; types include - city, telephone, county, regional, professional, religious, post office, street, ethnic, and school | Colonial Diseases |
| Dish Turner | Made wooden bowls and dishes on a lathe | UK Occupation |
| Disher / Dish Thrower | Made bowls and dishes from clay | UK Occupation |
| Dissenter | One who did not belong to the established church, especially the Church of England in the American colonies. | General |
| Distemper | Usually animal disease with malaise, discharge from nose and throat, anorexia | Medical |
| Distributor of Stamps | Appointee in charge of a county Stamp Office, collecting stamp duties (taxes) on land, registrations, etc | Scot.Occup |
| Distributor | Parish official who attended to the secular needs of inmates of the poorhouse / workhouse | UK Occupation |
| District land office plat book | Books or rather maps which show the location of the land patentee. | General |
| District land office tract book | Books which list individual entries by range and township. | General |
| djärv | bold, daring, venturesome | Swedish |
| Dock fever | Yellow fever | Medical |
| Dock Foyboatman | A shore-based seaman who worked a 'foy' to give assistance to vessels entering port - running lines from the ship to shore, towing small vessels etc. Foy is a corruption of fee, which was what the boatman charged | UK Occupation |
| Docker / Dock Walloper | Stevedore, dock worker who loads and unloads cargo | UK Occupation |
| Docker | Worker at docks who loads and unloads ships cargo | Scot.Occup |
| Docket Room Hand | Employed in a print works, processing the dockets which contain all the details, copy and pictures for a print job | UK Occupation |
| Dockmaster | In charge of a dockyard | UK Occupation |
| död utan bröstarvinge | died without issue | Swedish |
| död, döda, döde | dead, death | Swedish |
| dödbok | death record | Swedish |
| dödfödd | stillborn | Swedish |
| dödslista | death record | Swedish |
| dödsorsak | cause of death | Swedish |
| Doffer | Worked in the spinning mills, replacing the full yarn bobbins with empties on the looms. | UK Occupation |
| Dog Breaker | Dog trainer | UK Occupation |
| Dog Killer | Employed by the parish to round up and kill stray dogs | UK Occupation |
| Dog Leech | Veterinarian | UK Occupation |
| Dog-Whipper | Drove dogs away from the church. The dogs would be attracted by the custom of nailing fox tails to the church door as proof for collecting bounty on them | UK Occupation |
| Dom. Serv. | Domestic servant, household worker | Scot.Occup |
| dom | sentence, judgment | Swedish |
| domare | judge | Swedish |
| dombok | court record | Swedish |
| Domesday Book | Sometimes called just Domesday, it is a written record of a survey of England ordered by William the Conqueror in 1066. William was an attempting to register the landed wealth of the country in a systematic fashion and to determine the revenues due him. The survey was executed by groups of officers called legati, who visited each county and conducted a public inquiry. The set of questions that these officers asked of the town and county representatives constituted the Inquisitio Eliensis; the answers supplied the information from which the Domesday Book was compiled. Domesday is a corruption of Doomsday (the day of the final judgment); the work was so named because its judgments in terms of levies and assessments were irrevocable. The original manuscript was made in two volumes. The first and larger one, sometimes called the Great Domesday, included information on all England, with the exception of three eastern counties (Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk), several northern counties, London, and some other towns. The surveys of the three eastern counties made up the second volume, which was known as the Little Domesday. These documents were frequently used in the medieval law courts, and in their published form they are occasionally used today in cases involving questions of topography or genealogy. | Colonial Diseases |
| Domesman | Judge | UK Occupation |
| Dominie | Cleric or schoolmaster | UK Occupation |
| domsaga | judicial district | Swedish |
| Donkey Man/Boy | Passenger carriage driver | UK Occupation |
| dop | baptism, christening | Swedish |
| doplängd | record of baptisms | Swedish |
| dopnamn | given name | Swedish |
| döpt, döpta, döpte, döpelse | christening | Swedish |
| Dorcas | Seamstress | UK Occupation |
| dött | has died | Swedish |
| dotter | daughter | Swedish |
| double date | A double date appears on some documents as a result of two changes introduced by the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to resolve the error caused by the Julian calendar in use up to that time. Scientists resolved that a year was slightly longer than the 365 ¼ specified by the Julian calendar, which resulted in the loss of 10 days. The new calendar also changed the first day of the year from March 25th on the Julian calendar to January 1st. Different countries adopted the new calendar at different times and the practice of providing a double date was common. The British Commonwealth and the United States adopted the new calendar in 1752. By this time, the calendar was behind by 11 days. So, the day following September 2, 1752 was decreed to be September 14, 1752.. | Colonial Diseases |
| Double dating | A system of double dating used in England and America from 1582-1752, because it was not clear as to whether the year commenced January 1 or March 25 | General |
| Doubler | Operated a machine twisting yarn in cotton/woolen mills. The yarn on different bobbins is combined onto another bobbin | UK Occupation |
| döv | deaf | Swedish |
| Dower | Legal right or share which a wife acquired by marriage in the real estate of her husband, allotted to her after his death for her lifetime. | General |
| Dowser / Diviner | Finds water using a rod or witching stick | UK Occupation |
| Dragman | Fisherman who dragged a net along the sea bed (trawling) | UK Occupation |
| Dragoman | Interpreter for Turkish or Arabic | UK Occupation |
| dragon | light cavalryman | Swedish |
| Dragoon | Cavalryman | UK Occupation |
| Dragsman | Public transport/hire coach/carriage driver | UK Occupation |
| Drainer | Dug drains. Laid and buried clay tile drains in farm fields to drain them. Sometimes drains in towns. | UK Occupation |
| dräng | farmhand, bachelor | Swedish |
| Draper | Dealer in fabrics and sewing goods - in use today. From the French 'drap-de-Berry', a woollen cloth coming from Berry in France | UK Occupation |
| Drapery Painter | Second-rate painters employed painting the clothes (drapery) onto a painter's subject | UK Occupation |
| Drawboy | Weavers assistant - sat on the looms to lift the heavy warps | UK Occupation |
| Drawer In | Draws the warp yarn through loom parts to arrange warp for weaving specified pattern More Info | UK Occupation |
| Drawer | 1) Made wire by drawing the metal through a die 2) Raised the coal up the mineshaft 3) Mine worker pushing or dragging coal carts | UK Occupation |
| Drayman | Drove a long strong cart without fixed sides for carrying heavy loads, such as beer kegs | UK Occupation |
| Dredgerman | 1) Collected flotsam from the Thames for sale 2) Oyster fisherman | UK Occupation |
| Dresser | 1) A surgeon's assistant in a hospital 2) Operator who assembled the yarns or threads prior to weaving of cloth 3) Assistant to a noble person, preparing clothes etc. 4) In an Iron Foundry, the person who removed the flash and unwanted bits from castings | UK Occupation |
| Dressing Machine Maker | Sewing machine maker | UK Occupation |
| Drift Maker | Made fishermen's drift nets | UK Occupation |
| Drillman | Agricultural worker who operated a seed drill | UK Occupation |
| Dripping Man | Dealer in dripping - fat from cooking meat | UK Occupation |
| Driver | Literally, a slave driver | UK Occupation |
| Dropsy of the Brain | Encephalitis | Medical |
| Dropsy | Edema (swelling), often caused by kidney or heart disease | Medical |
| Drover | Drove cattle, sheep, etc. to market; a dealer in cattle | UK Occupation |
| Drowner | A Waterman who understood the secrets of irrigation See | UK Occupation |
| Drugger | Pharmacist | UK Occupation |
| Drugget weaver | Weaver of drugget - a plain and coarse open-sett woollen cloth | Scot.Occup |
| Drum Battledore Maker | Made galvanized drums with battledores (bat-shaped paddles), used as washing machines | UK Occupation |
| Drummer | Travelling salesman (drumming up business) | UK Occupation |
| drunknad | drowned | Swedish |
| Dry Bellyache | Lead poisoning | Medical |
| Dry Salter | 1) Dealt in dried meat, sauces, pickles 2) Dealt in dyes for fabrics etc. | UK Occupation |
| Dry Stone Waller / Dry Stane Dyker (Scottish) | Builds walls with stones from the fields. The art involves no mortar or cutting, but the ability to see where the stones should fit. Served the dual purpose of disposing of the stones from the fields and building the boundary walls | UK Occupation |
| Drysalter | Dealer in salted or dried meats, pickles and sauces | Scot.Occup |
| Dubber | Cloth dubber - raised the nap of cloth | UK Occupation |
| Duffer | Peddler of cheap goods | UK Occupation |
| Dunner | Debt collector | UK Occupation |
| duplikat | duplicate record | Swedish |
| Dustman | Uplifted street litter and domestic rubbish ( see 'scavenger' ) | Scot.Occup |
| Dyer | Fabric dyer | UK Occupation |
| dygn | 24 hours, day | Swedish |
| Dykeman | Hedger or Ditcher | UK Occupation |
| Dyker | (Scottish) Stonemason. Builder of dry stone walls | UK Occupation |
| Dyscrasia | An abnormal body condition | Medical |
| Dysentery | Inflammation of colon with frequent passage of mucous and Blood | Medical |
| Dysorexy | Reduced appetite | Medical |
| Dyspepsia | Indigestion and heartburn. Heart attack symptoms | Medical |
| Dysuria | Difficulty in urination | Medical |
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