diddle

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English

Etymology

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).

Meaning "to have sex with" is from the 19th century; "to masturbate" is from the 1950s. Compare dildo.

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈdɪdəl/,
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪdəl
Examples (music)
Single Paradiddle
Double Paradiddle
Triple Paradiddle
Paradiddle-Diddle

Noun

diddle (countable and uncountable, plural diddles)

  1. (music, countable) In percussion, two consecutive notes played by the same hand (either RR or LL), similar to the drag, except that by convention diddles are played the same speed as the context in which they are placed.
  2. (slang, childish, countable) The penis.
    • 2011, L. R. Baker, Wingnut: Operation Payback, page 104:
      Paul was the first one to unzip his pants, take out his diddle, and make himself ready to pee on the wire.
  3. (slang, uncountable) Gin (the drink).
    • 2008, William Least Heat-Moon, Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey
      a long, wooden porch good for listening to coyotes and owls, with a glass of diddle at hand.

Verb

diddle (third-person singular simple present diddles, present participle diddling, simple past and past participle diddled)

  1. (transitive, slang) To cheat; to swindle.
    • 1988, Roald Dahl, Matilda:
      'No one ever got rich being honest,' the father said. 'Customers are there to be diddled.'
  2. (transitive, slang) To molest.
  3. (transitive, slang) To masturbate (especially of women).
  4. (transitive) To waste time.
  5. (intransitive) To totter, like a child learning to walk; to daddle.
    • 1632, Frances Quarles, Divine Fancies:
      And, when his forward strength began to bloom, / To see him diddle up and down the Room!
  6. (transitive, computing, slang) To manipulate a value at the level of individual bits (binary digits).
    Coordinate term: twiddle

Synonyms

Translations

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Interjection

diddle

  1. A meaningless word used when singing a tune or indicating a rhythm.
    What's that tune that goes "diddle di-dum, diddle di-dum, diddle di-dum-dum"?

Derived terms

References

  • (gin): John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary

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