English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Noun

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darbies

  1. plural of darby

Etymology 2

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Noun

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darbies pl (plural only)

  1. (UK, slang) handcuffs
    • 1851, Herman Melville, chapter 73, in Moby Dick[1]:
      Who's afraid of him, except the old governor who daresn't catch him and put him in double-darbies, as he deserves, but lets him go about kidnapping people []
    • 1885, Lewis Carroll, “A Tangled Tale”, in The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll, New York: Vintage, published 1976, page 1058:
      And he says, 'I'll go along quiet, Bobby,' he says, 'without the darbies,' he says.
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, [], →OCLC:
      Second watch: (Produces handcuffs) Here are the darbies.
      Penguin, 1992, p. 592,
    • 1924, Herman Melville, chapter 26, in Billy Budd[2], London: Constable & Co.:
      Sentry, are you there? / Just ease this darbies at the wrist, and roll me over fair, / I am sleepy, and the oozy weeds about me twist.

Anagrams

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  NODES
Note 1