one of the two lamas (along with the Panchen Lama, who was formerly known in English as the Tashi or Tesho Lama) of Tibetan Buddhism, spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, literally "the ocean lama," from Mongolian dalai "ocean" (here probably signifying "big," in contrast to the Panchen Lama) + lama.
donated 1900 as a national tennis championship trophy by U.S. statesman Dwight Filley Davis (1879-1945) while still an undergraduate at Harvard.
also Davey Jones, David Jones, "the spirit of the sea," 1674.
In Smollett's "The Adventures of Peregrin Pickle" he is described as ("according to the mythology of sailors") an ominous and terrifying fiend who "presides over all the evil spirits of the deep, and is often seen in various shapes, perching among the rigging on the eve of hurricanes, shipwrecks and other disasters." Also called Old Davy (1788) which has been compared to Old Nick (see: Nick). The second element in the name might be from biblical Jonah, regarded as unlucky by sailors.
Davy Jones's Locker "bottom of the sea," is by 1803 with that spelling, earlier David Jones his Locker (1674) and Davy's locker (1788), from nautical slang.
also daycare, day-care, "care and supervision of young children during the day," especially on behalf of working parents, by 1943, American English, from day + care (n.). Early references are to care for children of women working national defense industry jobs. For an earlier word, see baby-farmer.
"closed end of a passage," 1851 in reference to drainpipes, 1874 in reference to railway lines; by 1886 of streets; from dead (adj.) + end (n.). Figurative use, "course of action that leads nowhere," is by 1914. As an adjective in the figurative sense by 1917; as a verb by 1921. Related: Dead-ended; dead-ending; deadender (by 1996).
"ascertaining of the position of a ship by measurement of the distance run" (without observation of heavenly bodies), 1610s, perhaps from nautical abbreviation ded. ("deduced") in log books, but it also fits dead (adj.) in the sense of "unrelieved, absolute."
lake of the River Jordan, mid-13c., from dead (adj.); its water is 26 percent salt (as opposed to 3 or 4 percent in most oceans) and supports practically no life. In the Bible it was the "Salt Sea" (Hebrew yam hammelah), also "Sea of the Plain" and "East Sea." In Arabic it is al-bahr al-mayyit "Dead Sea." The ancient Greeks knew it as he Thalassa asphaltites "the Asphaltite Sea." Latin Mare Mortum, Greek he nekra thalassa (both "The Dead Sea") referred to the sea at the northern boundaries of Europe, the Arctic Ocean.
1944, in reference to the Holocaust, probably translating German Todeslager; they also were known as extermination camps (German Vernichtungslager); historians usually count six of them: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Chełmno, Bełżec, Majdanek, Sobibór, Treblinka.
"place where something is discarded," by 1921 (in phrase give (something) the deep six), originally in motorboating slang, perhaps from earlier underworld noun sense of "the grave" (1929), which is perhaps a reference to the usual grave depth of six feet. But the phrase (in common with mark twain) also figured in sailing jargon, of sounding, for a measure of six fathoms:
As the water deepened under her keel the boyish voice rang out from the chains: "By the mark five—and a quarter less six—by the deep six—and a half seven—by the deep eight—and a quarter eight." ["Learning the Road to Sea," in Outing magazine, February 1918]
In general use by 1940s. As a verb from 1953.
