From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Diddle \Did"dle\, v. i. [Cf. {Daddle}.]
To totter, as a child in walking. [Obs.] --Quarles.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Diddle \Did"dle\, v. t. [Perh. from AS. dyderian to deceive, the
letter r being changed to l.]
To cheat or overreach. [Colloq.] --Beaconsfield.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
diddle
v 1: 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" [syn: {victimize}, {swindle}, {rook}, {goldbrick},
{nobble}, {diddle}, {bunco}, {defraud}, {scam}, {mulct},
{gyp}, {gip}, {hornswoggle}, {short-change}, {con}]
2: 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" [syn: {toy}, {fiddle}, {diddle}, {play}]
From The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]:
diddle
1. vt. To work with or modify in a not-particularly-serious manner. ?I
diddled a copy of {ADVENT} so it didn't double-space all the time.? ?Let's
diddle this piece of code and see if the problem goes away.? See {tweak}
and {twiddle}.
2. n. The action or result of diddling.
See also {tweak}, {twiddle}, {frob}.
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