<B>double-bank, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to provide with two rowers. <BR> <I>Ex. The crewmen double-banked each of the oars.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(British.) <DD><B> a. </B>to ride two on (a horse, bicycle, or other vehicle). <DD><B> b. </B><B>=double-park.</B> <DD><B> c. </B>(Figurative.) to double. <BR> <I>Ex. Throughout the 1960s, under Conservative and Labour Prime Ministers, the practice has been to double-bank Treasury Ministers in the Cabinet (London Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="doublebanked">
<B>double-banked, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having two rowers on the same thwart, but rowing on opposite sides. <DD><B> 2. </B>having two rowers at the same oar. <DD><B> 3. </B>having two rows of oars, one above the other, as certain galleys. </DL>
<A NAME="doublebar">
<B>double bar,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) a double line on a staff that marks the end of a movement or of an entire piece of music. </DL>
<B>double-barreled, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having two barrels. <BR> <I>Ex. a double-barreled shotgun.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) having a twofold purpose. <BR> <I>Ex. Eliminating the repeated threats to the public interest from strikes in steel ... calls for double-barreled action (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) having a double meaning. <BR> <I>Ex. a double-barreled compliment.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>having two parts. <BR> <I>Ex. Some of the biggest names in British exports are double-barreled: Rolls-Royce, Mini-Minor, Terry-Thomas (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="doublebass">
<B>double bass,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a deep-toned, stringed musical instrument shaped like a cello but much larger; bass viol; contrabass. The player stands, or sits on a high stool, to play. </DL>
<B>double bassoon,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a large bassoon, an octave lower in pitch than the ordinary bassoon; contra bassoon. </DL>
<A NAME="doublebed">
<B>double bed,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a bed built to accommodate two persons. Most double beds have a standard size, usually 74 inches long and 54 inches wide. </DL>
<A NAME="doublebedded">
<B>double-bedded, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having a double bed. <DD><B> 2. </B>having two single beds. </DL>
<A NAME="doublebill">
<B>double bill,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> two motion pictures, plays, or the like, on one program, for which a single admission is charged. <BR> <I>Ex. a double bill of opera and ballet (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="doublebind">
<B>double bind,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Psychology.) an experience or situation in which a person receives contradictory cues or signals as to what he should do, so that whatever he does appears to be wrong. </DL>
<A NAME="doublebitted">
<B>double-bitted, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having two cutting edges. <BR> <I>Ex. a double-bitted ax.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="doubleblind">
<B>double-blind, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> having to do with or designating a test or experiment in which neither the subjects nor the investigators know which of the subjects or substances are being tested and which are used as controls. <DD><I>noun </I> a double-blind test or experiment. <BR> <I>Ex. Double-blind means that half the people in a test project are given real pills, and half are given dummies, with neither they nor the doctors knowing at the time which is which (Good Housekeeping).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="doubleboiler">
<B>double boiler,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a pair of pans, one of which fits part way down into the other. The food in the upper pan is cooked gently by the heat from the boiling water in the lower pan. </DL>
<A NAME="doublebond">
<B>double bond,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Chemistry.) a compound in which two single valence bonds join two atoms, a characteristic of unsaturated compounds. </DL>
<A NAME="doublebook">
<B>double-book, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to accept two reservations for (the same hotel room) so as to help insure its occupancy in the event of a cancellation. <DD><B> 2. </B>to make two reservations for (a hotel room or the like) to be assured of obtaining it. </DL>
<A NAME="doublebreasted">
<B>double-breasted, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> overlapping enough to make two thicknesses across the breast and having a double row of buttons. <BR> <I>Ex. a double-breasted jacket or coat.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="doublebridle">
<B>double bridle,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a bridle having two reins, one controlling a curb bit, the other controlling a snaffle bit. </DL>
<A NAME="doublebubble">
<B>double-bubble, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having a shape or structure the cross section of which is somewhat like that of one bubble on top of another. <BR> <I>Ex. a double-bubble fuselage.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="doublecheck">
<B>double-check, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t., v.i. </I> to check twice. <BR> <I>Ex. to double-check a report, to double-check for factual errors. Local police, who double-checked, decided he could go his way (Time).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a check of something twice. <BR> <I>Ex. to make a double-check of safety apparatus.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="doublechin">
<B>double chin,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a soft fold of flesh under the chin. </DL>
<A NAME="doublechinned">
<B>double-chinned, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having a double chin. </DL>
<B>double-clutch, </B>intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to engage the clutch in neutral just prior to downshifting. </DL>
<A NAME="doublecoconut">
<B>double coconut,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a large, lobed coconut of the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean; coco-de-mer. </DL>
<A NAME="doubleconcavelens">
<B>double-concave lens,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a lens with two concave surfaces, used in reducing glasses. </DL>
<A NAME="doubleconvexlens">
<B>double-convex lens,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a lens with two convex surfaces, used in various magnifying glasses. </DL>
<A NAME="doublecounterpoint">
<B>double counterpoint,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) a counterpoint with two parts that may be inverted, the lower part becoming the higher, or the higher part the lower. </DL>
<A NAME="doublecover">
<B>double-cover, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to cover (an opponent) with two players; double-team. <BR> <I>Ex. The other teams have to double-cover him all the time (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="doublecrestedcormorant">
<B>double-crested cormorant,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the common cormorant of the coasts and inland waters of eastern North America, a large, greenish-black water bird with two crests on its head in summer. </DL>
<A NAME="doublecropping">
<B>double-cropping, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the raising of two or more crops on the same land in one season. </DL>
<A NAME="doublecross">
<B>double cross,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Informal.) an act of treachery. <BR> <I>Ex. [He] called the contract "a sell-out by the union and a double cross by the company" (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Genetics.) the hybrid produced by two single crosses of inbred lines. <BR> <I>Ex. Jones' solution was simply to use seed from a double cross instead of a single cross (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="doublecross">
<B>double-cross, </B>transitive verb, intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) to promise to do one thing and then do another; be treacherous (to). <BR> <I>Ex. A wealthy uncle who double-crossed them by leaving his money to charities (P. G. Wodehouse).</I> noun <B>double-cross-er.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="doublecrostic">
<B>Double-Crostic, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Trademark.) a kind of crossword puzzle in which the words formed produce a quotation, which is then transcribed so that the initial letters of its words form an acrostic of the author of the quotation and the title of the work in which the quotation appears. </DL>
<A NAME="doubledagger">
<B>double dagger,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a mark used to refer the reader to another section or to a note in a book; diesis. </DL>
<A NAME="doubledare">
<B>double-dare, </B>transitive verb, <B>-dared,</B> <B>-daring.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to challenge or dare with double emphasis. <BR> <I>Ex. But the little boy said, "Who's scared of your grandma? I just double-dare her!" (Guy Endore).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="doubledate">
<B>double date,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a date in which two couples go out together. </DL>
<A NAME="doubledate">
<B>double-date, </B>intransitive verb, <B>-dated,</B> <B>-dating.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to go out with a person of the opposite sex and another couple. </DL>
<A NAME="doubledeal">
<B>double-deal, </B>intransitive verb, <B>-dealt,</B> <B>-dealing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to practice deception; cheat; deceive. <BR> <I>Ex. It is Don Lope who is ill and she who double-deals pretending to call a doctor for him with her finger pressed firmly down on the telephone rest (Penelope Gilliatt).</I> noun <B>double-dealer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="doubledealing">
<B>double-dealing, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a pretending to do one thing and then doing another; deceitful action or behavior. <BR> <I>Ex. There were some who feared the U.S. could expect only grief and double-dealing in any ... conferences with the Communists (Newsweek).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> ready to deceive; deceitful. </DL>
<A NAME="doubledeck">
<B>double-deck, </B>adjective, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> having or consisting of two decks, levels, tiers, or layers. <BR> <I>Ex. a double-deck bus, a double-deck garage, a double-deck bed.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to make or arrange in two decks, levels, etc.. <BR> <I>Ex. to double-deck a bridge.</I> </DL>
<B>double-decker, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>something with two decks, floors, levels, tiers, or layers, such as a ship with two decks above the main deck, or a bus, railroad car, or aircraft having an upper floor with seats. <BR> <I>Ex. A bed with two levels, one above the other, is a double-decker.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S.) a sandwich made with three slices of bread and two layers of filling. </DL>
