did·dle 1 (d d l)tr.v. did·dled, did·dling, did·dles Slang To cheat; swindle: "The Swiss have special laws for people who diddle hotels" (John le Carré).
[Perhaps akin to Old English dydrian, to deceive, or from variant of dialectal doodle, fool, simpleton; akin to Low German dudeldopp.]
did dler n. |
did·dle 2 (d d l)v. did·dled, did·dling, did·dles v.tr.1. To jerk up and down or back and forth. 2. Vulgar Slang a. To have intercourse with (a woman). b. To practice masturbation upon. v.intr.1. To shake rapidly; jiggle. 2. Slang To play experimentally; toy: The children diddled with the knobs on the television all afternoon. 3. Slang To waste time: diddled around all morning.
[Probably alteration of dialectal didder, to quiver, tremble, from Middle English dideren, variant of daderen, doderen, perhaps from Low German.] |
diddle Verb [-dling, -dled] Informal to swindle [Jeremy Diddler, a scrounger in a 19th-century play] diddler n
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms | Verb | 1. | diddle - 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"bunco, con, defraud, gip, goldbrick, gyp, hornswoggle, mulct, nobble, rook, scam, swindle, short-change, victimize cheat, rip off, chisel - deprive somebody of something by deceit; "The con-man beat me out of $50"; "This salesman ripped us off!"; "we were cheated by their clever-sounding scheme"; "They chiseled me out of my money" | | 2. | diddle - manipulate manually or in one's mind or imagination; "She played nervously with her wedding ring"; "Don't fiddle with the screws"; "He played with the idea of running for the Senate"manipulate - hold something in one's hands and move it |
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