Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. Slang To cheat; swindle: "The Swiss have special laws for people who diddle hotels” ( John le Carré).
- v. To jerk up and down or back and forth.
- v. Vulgar Slang To have intercourse with (a woman).
- v. Vulgar Slang To practice masturbation upon.
- v. To shake rapidly; jiggle.
- v. Slang To play experimentally; toy: The children diddled with the knobs on the television all afternoon.
- v. Slang To waste time: diddled around all morning.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To toddle, as a child in walking; move rapidly up and down, or backward and forward; jog; shake.
- To cheat; overreach by deception; swindle.
Wiktionary
- n. 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
- n. The penis.
- v. to cheat; to swindle
- v. to have sex with
- v. to masturbate (especially of women)
- v. to waste time
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To totter, as a child in walking.
- v. To cheat or overreach.
WordNet 3.0
- v. deprive of by deceit
- v. manipulate manually or in one's mind or imagination
Etymologies
- Perhaps akin to Old English dydrian, to deceive, or from variant of dialectal doodle, fool, simpleton; akin to Low German dudeldopp.Probably alteration of dialectal didder, to quiver, tremble, from Middle English dideren, variant of daderen, doderen, perhaps from Low German.
Examples
“Thirteen years ago, as he was retiring from the Senate, Wyoming sage Alan Simpson told reporters he was weary of the blinders worn by members of both parties, ashamed to sit in meetings where Topics A, B and C were how to "diddle" a political rival.”
“Politicians who "diddle" with the plumbing that allows them to stay in office have no real respect for the institution or those who unwittingly support them.”
“They did not know what enterprise he was about to join in; but they heard that I had some share in it, and they did not scruple to hint that I might be an adventurer, who would 'diddle' him out of his money.”
“When you "diddle" with the handgun, it WILL go off, plain and simple.”
“In addition, several of the reviewers felt that the word 'diddle' was inappropriate, and should have been replaced by the more scientifically correct, 'Hey fornicate fornicate. ”
“I haven't met the shooter yet who can diddle with that selector when the rooster flushes.”
“This artsy party will also play host to a diddle on the decks from Stopmakingme as well as a visit from techno type Matias Aguayo's live project Coméme, plus a show from synth-soul duo Hundred In The Hands, who'll be stopping by as part of their European tour.”
“Hey Monday Homecoming Autographed 8×10 Photo hey diddle, diddle ceramic photo frame”
“You chump you went to diddle your girlfriend, what MAN wouldn't.”
“When you are dying a $500 DVD player wont do diddle for you.”
Health Care Spending, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘diddle’.
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CCle
all those wonderful Britsy words that end with a double consonant followed by 'le'
doddle, bobble, dibble, whiffle, waffle, diddle, piddle, jiggle, straggle, boggle, fiddle, skeedaddle and 122 more...
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Lying, cheating, and stealing
subterfuge, chicanery, skulduggery, pilfer, purloin, bamboozle, bilk, gyp, hoodwink, swindle, hoax, dupe and 28 more...
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[Open] Frequentative
“A verb which denotes the frequent occurrence or repetition of an action, as . . . waggle from wag.” — Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia.
Other examples include bobble (bob), bustle (b...dartle, stutter, agitate, dabble, waggle, aid, argue, daunt, expect, excite, espouse, dictate and 77 more...
yarb Citation on pleasure-nodule. Mar 26, 2012
brtom "You'll need to rise precious early, you sinner there, if you want to diddle the Almighty God."
Joyce, Ulysses, 14 Jan 27, 2007