diddle

[ did-l ]

/ ˈdɪd l /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR diddle ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), did·dled, did·dling.

Informal. to cheat; swindle; hoax.

RELATED WORDS

cheat, gyp, dawdle, jiggle, swindle

Nearby words

Origin of diddle

First recorded in 1800–10; perhaps special use of diddle²

Related formsdid·dler, noun

diddle

[ did-l ]

/ ˈdɪd l /

verb (used without object), did·dled, did·dling.

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.

verb (used with object), did·dled, did·dling.

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.

Origin of diddle

1800–10; expressive coinage, perhaps orig. in the Siamese twins diddle-diddle, diddle-daddle; cf. dodder¹, doodle¹

Related formsdid·dler, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for diddle

Doctors understand this: When we diddle, our power is not consolidated, but completely lost.
Scott DesJarlais Crossed the Line by Having Sex With Patients|Kent Sepkowitz|November 29, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The origin of the diddle is referrable to the infancy of the Human Race.
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe|Edgar Allan Poe
I am to travel on your commission without pay: your competitors shall pay; I'll diddle it out of them.
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau|Honore de Balzac
They diddle the workers o' France an' ither countries in the same way.
The Underworld|James C. Welsh

Since still they make ballads that worse and worseSavor of diddle and hey-de-dee.
The Book of Humorous Verse|Various
A diddler may thus be regarded as a banker in petto—a "financial operation," as a diddle at Brobdignag.
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe|Edgar Allan Poe

British Dictionary definitions for diddle

diddle

/ (ˈdɪdəl) /

verb informal

(tr) to cheat or swindle

(intr) an obsolete word for dawdle

Derived Formsdiddler, noun

Word Origin for diddle

C19: back formation from Jeremy Diddler, a scrounger in J. Kenney's farce Raising the Wind (1803)

verb

dialect to jerk (an object) up and down or back and forth; shake rapidly

Word Origin for diddle

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

diddle

"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.