believe sb ff®; 7+Blit; 7'fl'ff: I had no reason to doubt him.    > doubter noun

doubt-ful /'dautfl/ adj. 1 ~ (about sth) | ~ (about doing sth) (of a person A) not sure; uncertain and feeling doubt  7fi$£; 711 Eindubious: Rose

was doubtful about the whole idea. 3? Sfr 7 #

7 H & ft* o O He was doubtful about accepting extra work, it £ 7 £ ± jg m & & % m 7 x # 0 2 ~ (if/that/ whether ... ) unlikely; not probable   7A®

ft: It’s doubtful if this painting is a Picasso. j&fctlfrljfafk % (ft H o 0 With her injuries it’s doubtful that she’ll ever walk again.    o

It’s doubtful whether the car will last another year.

7- A $        Hi -t. ‘ o o He is injured and is doubtful

for the game tomorrow (= unlikely to play). #,517 $7 50 2c 7 lit# If,, 3 [not usually before noun] (of a thing 7 If) uncertain and likely to get worse 7 50 80; ;i;® A zk; nJfbTif®: At the beginning of the war things were looking very doubtful,        JFN*, J£&#±£fK75H

80 o 4 [only before noun] of low value; probably not genuine or of a quality that you can rely on I#; A H77#J ET771 DUBIOUS: This wine is of doubtful quality. SSlftMifAf^So ► doubtfully /-fali/ adv.

doubt ing Thomas/.dautuj 'tDmas; NAmE'ta:m-/ noun [sing.] (old-fashioned) a person who is unlikely to believe sth until they see proof of it 717-'£0 ift A; ^ ift A;

W A MflMffl From St Thomas in the Bible, who did not believe that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead until he saw and touched his wounds. 1® ft

doubt-less /'dautlas/ adv. (also less frequent doubtless­ly) almost certainly A ; JL 7 m M # cm without doubt : He would doubtless disapprove of what Kelly was doing. #7£-^|Wj®,fiJ#lft^:c douche /du:J7 noun a method of washing inside a woman’s vagina using a stream of water ( jtlAPfiil )

douche verb [V, VN]

dough /dau; NAmE dou/ noun 1 [U, sing.] a mixture of flour, water, etc. that is made into bread and pastry ( MT#j®ii#l$l.&(ft ) AMIS: Knead the dough on a floured surface. A ft 7 ffi ift & * ± % ffi 0 .    2 [U]

(iold-fashioned, s/ong) money H dough-nut (also donut especially in NAmE) /'daunAt; NAmE 'dou-/ noun a small cake made of fried dough, usually in the shape of a ring, or round and filled with jam/jelly, fruit, cream, etc. 7 M [S , £ ^ HI ( # ^ ^ «„ )

doughty /'dauti/ ad/. (old-fashioned) brave and strong J§

m%mi

dou la /'duila/ noun {NAmE) a woman whose role is to provide emotional support to a woman who is giving birth 7 Pp ( 4r 7 #3    7 3 A f# ) — compare

MIDWIFE

dour /’daua(r); BrE also dua(r); NAmE also dur/ ad/. 1 (of a person A) giving the impression of being unfriendly and severe <7 (ft; f* f/j (ft 2 (of a thing, a place, or a situation ^ 'If , # A jA If E) not pleasant; with no features that make it lively or interesting 4*

(ft ;   : The city, drab and dour by day, is

transformed at night.    Tfr 6

§fc,   0 The game proved to be a dour

struggle, with both men determined to win. j&A 7 H £n 0*ItAil>Wo ►dourlyadv. douse (also dowse) /daus/ verb [VN] 1 - sth (with sth) to stop a fire from burning by pouring water over it; to put out a light ( A ) ; & ( £T ) 2 ~ sb/sth (in/with sth) to pour a lot of liquid over sb/sth; to soak sb/sth in liquid ft-±$tA; IE•••        : The car was

doused in petrol and set alight.   7 ® ft ffi M

MTo

dove1 /dAv/ noun 1 a bird of the pigeon family. The white dove is often used as a symbol of peace. 7

( 66JIS'#AfnT(tfJAfl ) : A dove cooed softly. — K6I 7 $£      ^ N o 0 He wore a dove-grey suit. #^7“

^ ^ fk Ei ffi o — see also turtle dove 2 a person, especially a politician, who prefers peace and discus­sion to war #|M Ati, iMlMAtf (

) H23HAWK

dove2 /dauv; NAmE douv/ {NAmE) pt of dive dove-cote /‘dAvkDt; 'dAvkaut; /VAmf -ka:t; -kout/ (also dove-cot /'dAvknt; NAmE -ka:t/) noun a small building for doves or pigeons to live in ; Tiff]

dovetail joint

dove-tail /'dAvteil/ verb, noun

verb (formal) ~ (sth) (with/into sth) if two things dovetail or if one thing dovetails with another, they fit together well 7 ; [V] My plans dovetailed nicely

with hers. [also VN]

mnoun (also ,dovetail 'joint) a joint for fixing two pieces of wood together    S A )

dov ish /'dAviJ/ adj. preferring to use peaceful discus­sion rather than military action in order to solve a political problem ftiftlMftl-ra hawkish dow-ager /’dauad3a(r)/ noun 1 a woman of high social rank who has a title from her dead husband (

A Aft (ft )   the dowager Duchess of Norfolk

f§ %  ^ li: M 2 {informal) an impressive, usually rich,

old woman

dowdy /'daudi/ adj. 1 (of a woman A A) not attractive or fashionable life.2.H A (ft;         aWW2(ofa

thing #jf7) dull or boring and not attractive 7iJ»I(ft; 7 7Jt*$lft HTTIdrab: a dowdy dress Qifktfijk AM

dow el /'daual/ (also 'dowel rod) noun a small piece of wood, plastic, etc. in the shape of a cylinder, used to fix larger pieces of wood, plastic, etc. together Bf # dowel-ling (BrE) {U$ dowel ing) /'daualiq/ nouh [u] short pieces of wooden, metal or plastic rod that are used for holding parts of sth together #IT the Dow Jones Index /,dau 'djaunz indeks; NAmE 'd30unz/ (also Dow Jones average, the ’Dow) noun [sing.] a list of the share prices of 30 US industrial companies that can be used to compare the prices to previous levels

down On /daun/ adv., prep., verb, adj., noun madv. liidlJ For the special uses of down in phrasal verbs, look at the entries for the verbs. For example climb down is in the phrasal verb section at climb. * down   climb

down        climb (ftfeLilfzA'isI r|S^K 1 to or at a lower

place or position [ft 7 ; T ; AT®: She jumped down off the chair. MMTff7o 0 He looked down at her. ftefSAIf'Irftfeo <> We watched as the sun went down.

0 If ir A PH ® tH o O She bent down to pick up her glove. ;# Af&T-io O Mary’s not down yet (= she is still upstairs).   o The baby can’t keep

any food down (= in her body).

2 from a standing or vertical position to a sitting or horizontal one ( ^, #7 1$ ) T: Please sit down, if o He had to go and lie down for a while, ftfe 7 f# 7