Dartmoor 350
methods, and many LEFT-WING politicians, artists, and writ-
ers sent their children there. The music college has an
important summer school, where people go to be taught by
famous musicians.
**Dart-moor** /'dɑːtmː, -mʊə || 'dɑːrt-/ **1** a large area of
MOOR (=wild, open country with rough grass and low
bushes) in Devon, in the southwest of England, which is a
National Park. **2** Dartmoor Prison, a prison in the centre of
Dartmoor, far from any towns, where many dangerous
criminals are kept
**Dartmoor 'pony** *n* a type of small, wild horse that lives on
Dartmoor → compare EXMOOR PONY
**Dart-mouth** /'dɑːtməθ || 'dɑːrt-/ **1** a port in Devon, south-
west England. Many officers of the British navy are trained
in the Royal Naval College there. **2** Dartmouth College a
private university in New Hampshire in the US. It is one of
the universities in the IVY LEAGUE (=a group of old and
respected colleges).
**darts** /dɑːts || dɑːrts/ *n* [U] any of several games in which
DARTS are thrown at a circular board (a DARTBOARD): They
*were playing darts in the bar*. → see Feature on page A24
**CULTURAL NOTE** In the UK, darts is usually played in PUBS.
Darts competitions are sometimes shown on television,
and the STEREOTYPE of a darts player is a
WORKING-CLASS man with a fat stomach who drinks a lot
of beer.
**Dar-win** /'dɑːwɪn || 'dɑːr-/ a city and important port in
northern Australia → see picture at AUSTRALIA
**Darwin, Charles** (1809–82) a
British scientist who devel-
oped the THEORY OF EVOLU-
TION, the idea that plants and
animals develop gradually
from simpler to more com-
plicated forms by NATURAL
SELECTION. This is the proc-
ess by which only plants and
animals that are naturally
suitable for life in their envi-
ronment will continue to
live, while all others will die.
He wrote about his ideas in
his book *On the Origin of Spe-
cies* (1859), and this caused a
lot of argument because
some people thought his
ideas were an attack on the
description given in the Bible of the way life began. → see
Cultural Note at EVOLUTION —**Darwinian** /dɑː'wɪniən || dɑːr-/
*adj*: *the Darwinian theory of evolution*
**Dar-win-ism** /'dɑːwɪnɪzəm || 'dɑːr-/ *n* [U] the THEORY OF
EVOLUTION, the idea that plants and animals develop gradu-
ally from simpler to more complicated forms by NATURAL
SELECTION, which is the process by which only plants and
animals that are naturally suitable for life in their environ-
ment will continue to live, while all others will die
**Dasch-le, Thomas** /'dæʃəl/ (1947–) a US Democratic politi-
cian who in 1995 became the leader of the Democrats in the
Senate
**dash**¹ /dæʃ/ *v* **1** [I+adv/prep] to run quickly, especially when
hurrying: *He dashed across the street/up the stairs.* | *They've
been dashing about all day.* | *I must dash (off) – I've got to
catch a train.* → see RUN (USAGE) **2** [I+prep; T+obj+prep] to
(cause to) strike violently, often resulting in damage or
destruction: *The waves dashed (the boat) against the rocks.* |
*In her fury, she dashed all the plates to the floor.* **3** [T] to put
an end to (especially hopes): *The injury dashed his hopes of
running in the Olympics.* **4** [T] BrE euph for DAMN: *Dash it all,
I've lost again!*
**dash sth. ↔ off** *phr v* [T] to write or draw quickly and
without serious attention: *to dash off a letter*
**dash**² *n* **1** [S] a sudden quick run: *The prisoners made a
dash for freedom.* **2** [C usually sing.] a short race for runners;
SPRINT: *the 100-yard dash* **3** [C(of)] a small amount of some-
thing mixed with or added to something else: *a dash of
pepper/colour* **4** [C] a mark (-) used in writing and printing:
*The dash is longer than the hyphen.* → compare
HYPHEN **5** [U] a combination of bravery, style, and self-
confidence; PANACHE **6** [(the) S] the sound of liquid hitting
something: *the dash of the waves against the side of the
ship* **7** [C] a long sound or flash of light used in sending
messages by Morse Code → compare DOT¹ **8** [C] especially AmE
a dashboard **9** cut a **dash** to make people admire you
because of your appearance and style
**dash-board** /'dæʃbɔːd || -bɔːrd/ also **dash** especially AmE — *n*
the instrument board in a car → see picture at CAR
**dashed** /dæʃt/ *adj* [A] BrE old-fash euph for DAMN: *That dashed
cat! He's here again!*
**dash-ing** /'dæʃɪŋ/ *adj* having style and self-confidence: *a
dashing young officer* —**ly** *adv*
**Das Kapital** → see KAPITAL, DAS
**dast-ard-ly** /'dæstədli || -ərd-/ *adj* old-fash behaving like a cow-
ard and a BULLY
**DAT** /diː eɪ 'tiː, dæt/ *trademark abbrev.* for digital audio tape; a
system used to record music, sound, or information in DIGITAL
form. DAT produces sound of very high quality.
**da-ta** /'deɪtə, 'dɑːtə/ *n* [P;U] **1** facts; information: *We can't
tell you the results of the survey until we have looked at all the
data.* **2** information in a form that can be processed by and
stored in a computer system: *We use a keyboard to input the
data.*
**USAGE** Although it is plural in its Latin form, **data** is now
also used as an uncountable noun: *These data are very
interesting.* | *This data is very interesting.* Some people
still do not like this uncountable use of the word.
**da-ta-base** /'deɪtəbeɪs/ also **'data bank** *n* a large collec-
tion of data that is stored in a computer system in such a
way that it can easily be found by a computer user
**database 'management ,system** *n* a system used in a
computer that organizes the arrangement of data in a
database and controls entry to, the putting in of, and the
taking out of that data
**'data bus** *n tech* an electrical path along which data flows
between different parts of a computer system
**'data ,mining** *n* [U] the process of using a computer to
examine large amounts of information about customers, in
order to discover things about them that are not easily seen
or noticed
**Da-ta-post** /'deɪtəpəʊst/ *trademark* a special type of service in
the UK for sending urgent letters and packages, both to
places in the UK and to other countries: *I'd like to send these
packages (by) Datapost, please.*
**,data 'processing** *n* [U] the use of data by computers
**,Data Pro'tection Act, the** a British law that was intro-
duced in 1984 and then rewritten in 1998. It provides rules
about the way in which personal information can be stored
on computer by the government, companies, and other
organizations. It gives legal rights to people in order to
prevent this information from being wrongly used, and also
allows people to see the information that is held about
them.
**date**¹ /deɪt/ *n* **1** a stated point in time shown by one or more
of the following: the number of the day, the month, and the
year (but not usually by the month alone): *The date on the
coin is 1921.* | *'What's the date today?' 'It's the third of
August.'* | *They agreed to discuss the details of the contract at
a later date.* (=at some time in the future) | *The closing
date for this competition* (=the date after which entries will
not be accepted) *is December 31st, 1993.* **2** a fixed arrange-
ment to meet at a particular time and place: *The two leaders
have not yet set a date for their next meeting.* | *The sixth is
OK? Well, let's make that a date then.* **3** *infml* **a)** a planned
social meeting between a man and woman, or boy and girl:
*Does your mother let you go out on dates?* → see also BLIND
DATE **b)** especially AmE a person with whom one has this sort
of arrangement: *Of course you can bring your date to the
party.* → see also DATE², DOUBLE DATE **4** to **date** *infml* until
today; yet: *We made our offer four weeks ago but we have not
had a reply to date.* → see also OUT-OF-DATE, UP-TO-DATE
**date**² *v* **1** [T] to guess or decide the date of: *The archaeolo-
gists have dated the building to about 250 BC.* **2** [T] to write
the date on: *The leaked document was dated June 11th.* **3** [I]