diddle

 
Pronunciation: /ˈdɪd(ə)l/

verb

informal
  • 1 [with object] cheat or swindle (someone) so as to deprive them of something: he thought he’d been diddled out of his change
  • deliberately falsify: he diddled his income tax returns
  • 2 [no object] chiefly North American pass time aimlessly or unproductively: I felt sorry for her, diddling around in her room while her friends were having a good time
  • 3 [with object] vulgar slang, chiefly North American (of a man) have sexual intercourse with.
    [originally in Scots dialect use in the sense 'jerk from side to side', apparently corresponding to dialect didder 'tremble']

Derivatives

diddler

noun

Origin:

early 19th century: probably from the name of Jeremy Diddler, a character in the farce Raising the Wind (1803) by the Irish dramatist James Kenney (1780–1849). Diddler constantly borrowed and failed to repay small sums of money: the name may be based on an earlier verb diddle 'walk unsteadily'