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• dickens
  dickens

  noun

  Usually the dickens devil; deuce (often used in exclamations and as a mild oath).
• Dickens
  Dickens

  noun

  Charles John Huffam, Boz, 1812–70, English novelist.

dickens

¹ American  

[dik-inz] / ˈdɪk ɪnz /

noun

1. Usually the dickens devil; deuce (often used in exclamations and as a mild oath).

   The dickens you say! What the dickens does he want?

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Dickens ² American  

[dik-inz] / ˈdɪk ɪnz /

noun

1. Charles John Huffam, Boz, 1812–70, English novelist.

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Dickens ¹ British  

/ ˈdɪkɪnz /

noun

1. Charles ( John Huffam ), pen name Boz. 1812–70, English novelist, famous for the humour and sympathy of his characterization and his criticism of social injustice. His major works include The Pickwick Papers (1837), Oliver Twist (1839), Nicholas Nickleby (1839), Old Curiosity Shop (1840–41), Martin Chuzzlewit (1844), David Copperfield (1850), Bleak House (1853), Little Dorrit (1857), and Great Expectations (1861)

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dickens ² British  

/ ˈdɪkɪnz /

noun

1. informal a euphemistic word for devil

   what the dickens?

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Other Word Forms

• Dickensian
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of dickens

First recorded in 1590–1600; apparently a fanciful use of Dicken, form of Dick, a proper name

Explanation

Use the noun dickens for emphasis, or to express surprise — for example, you might ask, "What the dickens is this goat doing in the kitchen?" The old-fashioned dickens is a gentle and inoffensive replacement for a profanity. Instead of shocking your grandmother by cursing, you can instead say, "After shoveling all that snow, my back hurts like the dickens." This exclamation has been around since the late 1500s, when it became a substitute for devil, but no one's sure exactly why dickens was used. It may be from the last name Dickens, though it definitely pre-dates the writer Charles Dickens.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dickens Dickens

The youngster “impressed the dickens out of me,” Eberhart said.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 7, 2021

The way the Rams’ game imploded should scare the dickens out of L.A.’s players and coaches.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 25, 2020

This would not be too bad, except we have very high ceilings and it echoes like the dickens.

From Slate ● Jan. 10, 2019

“I thought, ‘What in the dickens is that?’ ” he said in his video account.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 5, 2016

She took a drink of her soda, and I took a drink of mine, pretending to study the dickens out of that map.

From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry

His wannabe Robocops launch indiscriminate raids, operate detention facilities under conditions out of a Dickens novel and regularly don face masks to hide their identities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026

It’s a tale as old as Dickens: No one likes a Scrooge.

From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026

The 63-year-old model-train enthusiast told Dickens, who stopped for a chat, he was there for his best friend, Roy, who died several years ago.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

Dickens is open about her role as a caregiver in part as a way to decrease the stigma around bringing that part of a person’s life to work, she said.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026

Since high school, I have maintained a voracious appetite for learning, from Dickens to Langston Hughes to writings about nanotechnology, chemistry, and biology.

From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz