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• dido
  dido

  noun

  a mischievous trick; prank; antic.
• Dido
  Dido

  noun

  a queen of Carthage who killed herself when abandoned by Aeneas.

dido

¹ American  

[dahy-doh] / ˈdaɪ doʊ /

noun

Informal.

plural

didos, didoes

1. a mischievous trick; prank; antic.

2. a bauble or trifle.

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Dido ² American  

[dahy-doh] / ˈdaɪ doʊ /

noun

1. Phoenician Elissa.  Classical Mythology. a queen of Carthage who killed herself when abandoned by Aeneas.

2. a female given name.

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dido ¹ British  

/ ˈdaɪdəʊ /

noun

1. an antic; prank; trick

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Dido ² British  

/ ˈdaɪdəʊ /

noun

1. classical myth a princess of Tyre who founded Carthage and became its queen. Virgil tells of her suicide when abandoned by her lover Aeneas

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Dido Cultural  

1. In Roman mythology, the founder and queen of Carthage in north Africa. She committed suicide in grief over the departure of her lover, the hero Aeneas.

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Discover More

Dido is an image of the unhappy or unrequited lover.

Etymology

Origin of dido

First recorded in 1800–10; origin uncertain

Example Sentences

Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, cut a dainty diplomatic dido by feeding a hungry naturalized Briton�"Flag," the fawn star of The Yearling, which had been presented to a London zoo.

From Time Magazine Archive

Three times that night she woke in the bed with her curl-papers crackling for very fright; and the fourth time 'twas at the sound of a real dido below stairs.

From News from the Duchy by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir

"If the brute had cut up such a dido under your bed, you would have been as 'turnal sceared as I was."

From Life in the Clearings versus the Bush by Moodie, Susanna

The Crocodile doth open his jaws, Like great big ugly tusky doors, And gobbles you up without a pause, Oh! fiddledy, diddledy, dido!

From Five Mice in a Mouse-trap by the Man in the Moon. by Ledyard, Addie

That would be a pretty dido, I must say!

From The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna or, The Crew That Won by Morrison, Gertrude W.