Link Centre Dictionary

diddle

UK/ˈdɪ.dəl/ US/ˈdɪdɫ̩/ uncommon slang

verb

1.

deprive of by deceit

  • “He swindled me out of my inheritance”
  • “She defrauded the customers who trusted her”
  • “the cashier gypped me when he gave me too little change”
Synonyms
2.

manipulate manually or in one''s mind or imagination

  • “She played nervously with her wedding ring”
  • “Don”
  • “;”
Synonyms

Origin

From dialectal duddle (“to trick”) (16th century), and diddle, duddle (“to totter”) (17th century), perhaps dissimilated from dialectal didder, dither (“to shake, tremble”), from Middle English dideren (“to shake, quiver, tremble”) and Middle English bididren (“to seduce, deceive”), from Old English bedidrian, bedyderian (“to trick, deceive”). Compare also Saterland Frisian diedelje (“to play or sing without a melody”), Dutch bedodden, bedotten (“to trick, fool, diddle”), German Low German Diedeldentjes (“pranks, pranking”). Possibly influenced or reinforced by the name (which itself was probably chosen as an allusion to duddle) of the swindling character Jeremy Diddler in Kenney's Raising the Wind (1803). Meanings "to have sex with" and "to molest" are from the 19th century; "to masturbate" is from the 1950s. Compare dildo.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.