/ · 1894 Brewer’s · D · Dyvour
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The debtor’s badge in Scotland (French, devoir, to own). Bankrupts were compelled to wear an upper garment, half yellow and half brown, with a parti-coloured cap. This law was abolished in the reign of William IV.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.