diddle1
[did-l]
- Informal. to cheat; swindle; hoax.
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Origin of diddle1
First recorded in 1800–10; perhaps special use of diddle2
diddle2
[did-l]
- Informal. to toy; fool (usually followed by with): The kids have been diddling with the controls on the television set again.
- to waste time; dawdle (often followed by around): You would be finished by now if you hadn't spent the morning diddling around.
- Informal. to move back and forth with short rapid motions.
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- Informal. to move back and forth with short rapid motions; jiggle: Diddle the switch and see if the light comes on.
- Slang.
- to copulate with.
- to practice masturbation upon.
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Origin of diddle2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for diddle
Contemporary Examples
The only reason to have a separate vote is to diddle the White House around.
Doctors understand this: When we diddle, our power is not consolidated, but completely lost.
Historical Examples
Since still they make ballads that worse and worseSavor of diddle and hey-de-dee.
The Book of Humorous VerseVarious
The origin of the diddle is referrable to the infancy of the Human Race.
The Works of Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe
I reason a priori, and a diddle would be no diddle without a grin.
The Works of Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe
We all wondered what this could be, for we knew it was not there when Diddle went up.
Old Wonder-EyesL. K. Lippincott
He there states that Pancakes and “Diddle, diddle dumplings O!”
The Cries of LondonJohn Thomas Smith
diddle1
- (tr) to cheat or swindle
- (intr) an obsolete word for dawdle
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Word Origin
C19: back formation from Jeremy Diddler, a scrounger in J. Kenney's farce Raising the Wind (1803)
diddle2
- dialect to jerk (an object) up and down or back and forth; shake rapidly
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Word Origin
C17: probably variant of doderen to tremble, totter; see dodder 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for diddle
v.
"to cheat, swindle," 1806, from dialectal 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 have gathered around a suggestive sound. Related: Diddled; diddling.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper