diddle

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• diddle — to cheat, swindle, 1806, from dial. duddle, diddle to totter (1630s). Meaning waste time is recorded from 1825. Meaning to have sex with is from 1879; that of to masturbate (especially of women) is from 1950s. More or less unrelated meanings that …   Etymology dictionary

• diddle — diddle1 [did′ l] vt. diddled, diddling [dial. duddle, diddle, to totter, akin to DODDER1] 1. Informal to move back and forth in a jerky or rapid manner; jiggle 2. Slang a) to have sexual intercourse with b) …   English World dictionary

• Diddle — Did dle, v. i. [Cf. {Daddle}.] To totter, as a child in walking. [Obs.] Quarles. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

• Diddle — Did dle, v. t. [Perh. from AS. dyderian to deceive, the letter r being changed to l.] To cheat or overreach. [Colloq.] Beaconsfield. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

• diddle — did‧dle [ˈdɪdl] verb [transitive] informal to get money from someone by deceiving them: • I m sure he diddled me out of quite a lot of money! …   Financial and business terms

• diddle — ► VERB informal ▪ cheat or swindle. ORIGIN probably from Jeremy Diddler, a character in the farce Raising the Wind (1803) who constantly borrowed small sums of money …   English terms dictionary

• diddle — diddle1 diddler, n. /did l/, v.t., diddled, diddling. Informal. to cheat; swindle; hoax. [1800 10; perh. special use of DIDDLE2] diddle2 diddler, n. /did l/, v., diddled, diddling …   Universalium

• diddle — [19] The current meaning of diddle, ‘to cheat or swindle’, was probably inspired by Jeremy Diddler, a character who was constantly borrowing money and neglecting to repay it in James Kenney’s play Raising the Wind (1803) (the expression raise the …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

• diddle — [19] The current meaning of diddle, ‘to cheat or swindle’, was probably inspired by Jeremy Diddler, a character who was constantly borrowing money and neglecting to repay it in James Kenney’s play Raising the Wind (1803) (the expression raise the …   Word origins

• diddle — did|dle [ˈdıdl] v [T] BrE informal [Date: 1800 1900; Origin: Perhaps from Diddler, name of a character in a 19th century English play] to get money from someone by deceiving them diddle sb out of sth ▪ They ll diddle you out of your last penny if …   Dictionary of contemporary English

• diddle — vb 1. British to cheat. A common colloquial ism recorded since the early 1800s. ► Comedian Ken Dodd insisted on cash for shows to diddle the taxman, his former agent told a jury yesterday. (Daily Mirror, 5 July 1989) In Old English dydrian meant… …   Contemporary slang