Middle English Duche German, from early Dutch duutsch. Orig applied to speakers of Low and High German and their language; in the 17th cent. restricted to the people of the Netherlands, as the German-speaking people with whom the British had most contact. Derogatory terms such as go dutch, Dutch treat, Dutch auction and Dutch courage reflect the rivalry and enmity between the British and the Dutch in the 17th cent. Words borrowed into English from the Dutch language in the 16th and 17th cents reflect the preeminence of the Netherlands in artistic, military, and nautical matters: beleaguer, cruise, domineer, drill, easel, etch, freebooter, keelhaul, landscape, sketch, sloop, smuggle, splice, stoker, yacht. Other borrowings of that period include boss, brandy, frolic, gherkin, isinglass, slim, uproar, and wagon. Quite a few later borrowings resulted from contact between Dutch and English settlers in North America, including coleslaw, cookie, dope, poppycock, sleigh, spook, and waffle