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Domesday Book VdUmz-.da, 'domz-,da\ (1086) Original record or summary of William I the Conqueror’s survey of England. The most remarkable administrative feat of the Middle Ages, the survey was carried out, against popular resentment, by panels of commissioners who compiled accounts of the estates of the king and his tenants. As summarized in the Domesday Book, it now serves as the starting point for the history of most English towns and villages. Originally called “the description of England,” the name Domesday Book (a reference to doomsday, when people face a final accounting of their lives) was later popularly attached to it.
domestic cat or house cat Domesticated carnivore (Felis catus) that retains many characteristics of the larger wild cats but differs in coat and size. Breeds are either shorthaired (e.g., Siamese) or longhaired (e.g., Per¬ sian). Domestic cats are usually white, black, yellow, or gray and some¬ times have markings of a different colour. A pattern of dark stripes or swirls on a lighter background is called tabby. Males may reach lengths of 28 in. (71 cm), and females are usually about 20 in. (51 cm) long. Weights generally vary from 6 to 10 lb (2.5 to 4.5 kg), though nonped- igreed cats may weigh up to 28 lb (13 kg). The most closely related wild species are the North African wildcats (including Felix lybica). Valued for their mouse and rat hunting, which protected farmers’ grain supplies, cats were being domesticated in ancient Egypt by 1500 bc. The Cat Fan¬ ciers’ Association now recognizes about 37 breeds.
domestic service Employment of hired workers by private households for tasks including housecleaning, cooking, child care, gardening, and per¬ sonal service. It also includes the performance of similar tasks for hire in public institutions and businesses, including hotels and boardinghouses. In ancient Greece and Rome domestic service was performed almost exclu¬ sively by slaves. In medieval Europe serfs provided much of the necessary labour force. Indentured servants were widely used in colonial America, as were black slaves in the pre-Civil War South. In Victorian England many middle- and upper-class households hired domestic servants; the royalty and gentry often employed huge staffs with an elaborate hierarchy. Domes-
Last Communion of Saint Jerome, oil painting by Domenichino, 1614; in the Vatican Museum.
SCALA/ART RESOURCE, NEW 'YORK
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
domestic system ► Dominican i 561
tic service has declined in the U.S. and Europe since the early 1920s, a trend attributed to the leveling of social classes, greater job opportunities for women, and the spread of labour-saving household devices.
domestic system or putting-out system Production system wide¬ spread in 17th-century Europe in which merchant-employers “put out” materials to rural home workers, who then returned finished products to the employers for payment. The domestic system differed from the handicraft system of home production in that the workers neither bought materials nor sold products. It undermined the urban guilds and brought the first wide¬ spread industrial employment of women and children. The system was generally superseded by employment in factories but was retained in the 20th century in some industries, notably watchmaking in Switzerland, toy manufacturing in Germany, and many industries in India and China.
domestic tragedy Drama in which the main characters are ordinary people. This form of tragedy contrasts with Classical tragedy, in which the main characters are of royal or aristocratic rank. An early domestic tragedy, A Warning for Faire Women (1599), deals with the murder of a merchant by his wife. The form became popular in the mid-18th century and reached its maturity in the 19th-century bourgeois tragedies of Hen¬ rik Ibsen. Gerhart Hauptmann, Eugene O'Neill, and Arthur Miller wrote important 20th-century domestic tragedies.
domestication Process of hereditary reorganization of wild animals and plants into forms more accommodating to the interests of people. In its strictest sense, it refers to the initial stage of human mastery of wild animals and plants. The fundamental distinction of domesticated animals and plants from their wild ancestors is that they are created by human labour to meet specific requirements or whims and are adapted to the con¬ ditions of continuous care people maintain for them. A variety of animals have been domesticated for food (e.g., cattle, chickens, pigs), clothing (e.g., sheep, silkworms), transportation and labour (e.g., camels, donkeys, horses), and pleasure (e.g., cats, dogs). See also breeding; selection.
domicile Place where an individual has a fixed and permanent home for legal purposes. The term refers to the place where an organization (e.g., a corporation) is chartered or that is the organization’s principal place of business. The domicile of an individual or organization determines the proper jurisdiction and venue for legal process, including taxation. For persons lacking capacity (e.g., minors), domicile is usually defined as the domicile of the guardian.
dominance In genetics, the greater influence by one of a pair of genes (alleles) that affect the same inherited trait. If an individual pea plant that has one allele for tallness and one for shortness is the same height as an individual that has two alleles for tallness, the tallness allele is said to be completely dominant. If such an individual is shorter than an individual that has two tallness alleles but still taller than one that has two shortness alleles, the tallness allele is said to be partially or incompletely dominant and the shortness allele is said to be recessive (see recessiveness).
Domingo, Placido (b. Jan. 21,
1941, Madrid, Spain) Spanish tenor and conductor. He moved to Mexico in 1949 with his parents, both of whom were zarzuela (a form of Span¬ ish light opera) singers. He studied voice, piano, and conducting, mak¬ ing his debut as a baritone. After developing his tenor range, he made his U.S. debut, spent three years in Tel Aviv (singing in Hebrew), came to the New York City Opera in 1965, and debuted with the Metropolitan Opera at Lewissohn Stadium in 1966. His resonant, powerful voice, imposing physical stature, good looks, and dramatic ability made him one of the most popular tenors of the second half of the 20th century.
Dominic, Saint orig. Domingo de Guzman (b. 1170, Caleruega,
Castile—d. Aug. 6, 1221, Bologna,
Romagna; canonized July 3, 1234; feast day August 8) Founder of the
St. Dominic, detail of a panel by the school of Messina (?), 15th century; in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Palermo, Italy.
ANDERSON—AllNARI FROM ART RESOURCE
Order of Friars Preachers, or Dominicans. He joined the religious com¬ munity of the cathedral of Osma c. 1196. On a visit to southern France in 1203, he encountered the Albigensian heresy (see Cathari) and deter¬ mined to fight it. He gathered a group of preachers willing to travel the roads barefoot and in poverty, and in 1206 he founded a convent of nuns converted from heresy. While designing his order devoted to preaching, Dominic may first have met St. Francis of Assisi, who became his good friend. In 1216 he received sanction for his order from Pope Honorius III. He established schools of theology at his two principal houses near the Universities of Paris and Bologna.
Dominica \ 1 da-m3- , ne-k9\ officially Commonwealth of Domin¬ ica Island country, Lesser Antilles, Caribbean Sea. It is located between the French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Area: 290 sq mi (750
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Cape Capuchin
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Morne Raquette
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2002 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
sq km). Population (2005 est.): 69,000. Capitaclass="underline" Roseau. The majority of the people are of African or mixed African and Euro¬ pean descent. Languages: English (offi¬ cial), French patois. Religion: Christianity (predominantly Roman Catholic; also Protestant). Currency: Eastern Car¬ ibbean dollar. A mountainous island, Dominica is broken midway by a plain drained by the Layou River. It has a warm tropical climate with heavy rainfall. The main crop is bananas. Dominica is among the poorest of the Caribbean nations. A developing tourist trade was helped by the establishment in 1975 of Morne Trois Pi tons National Park, a unique tropical mountain wilderness, but the country was ravaged by hurricanes in 1979 and 1980. With financial help from Britain, it is trying to protect its coastline. It is a republic with one legislative house; its chief of state is the president, and its head of government is the prime minister. At the time of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in 1493, it was inhabited by the Caribs. Because of its steep coastal cliffs and inaccessible mountains, it remained in the possession of the Caribs until the 18th century; it was then settled by the French and later taken by Britain in 1783. Subsequent hostilities between the settlers and the native inhabitants resulted in the Caribs’ near extinction. Incorporated with the Leeward Islands in 1833 and with the Windward Islands in 1940, it became a member of the West Indies Federation in 1958. Dominica became independent in 1978. See also West Indies. Offshore banking, a controversial boom to the Dominican economy in the late 20th century, was discontinued early in the 21st century.