diddle
To cheat; to swindleTo cheat; to swindle.
» Tom diddles kids.
Meaning
6 senses(slang, transitive)To cheat; to swindle.
мошенничатьmošenničatʹ, обма́ныватьobmányvatʹ
(slang, transitive)To molest.
(slang, transitive)To masturbate.
(transitive)To waste time.
(intransitive)To totter, like a child learning to walk; to daddle.
(slang, transitive)To manipulate a value at the level of individual bits (binary digits).
- manipulate manually or in one's mind or imagination
- deprive of by deceit
Examples
2 sentencesTom diddles kids.
"Pride is a sin." "Priests diddle kids."
Translations
1 languagesOrigin
From dialectal duddle (“to trick”) (16th century), and diddle, duddle (“to totter”) (17thFrom 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).
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Forms
diddles, diddling, diddled, diddledSynonyms
25 synonymsWord family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle