subs. (common).—A draper. [From DOWLAS, now a kind of towelling, but mentioned by Shakespeare (1 Henry IV., iii. 3, 1597) as a material for shirts. Popularised as a sobriquet by Colman’s Daniel Dowlas in The Heir at Law.—See DICKEY DIAPER, and cf., DRIPPING = cook; GRINDO = miller; GALLIPOT = chemist; LINT-SCRAPER = surgeon, (q.v.).
