diddly, a. and n. colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
Brit. /ˈdɪdlɪ/, /ˈdɪdlˌɪ/, U.S. /ˈdɪdli/, /ˈdɪdlˌi/
Forms: 18– diddly, 19– diddley
[Origin uncertain. Perhaps compare diddle v.1 or diddle v.3, or perhaps an alteration of tiddly adj.2 With use as noun compare diddly-squat n.]
A. adj. Insignificant, trifling.
Originally (now sometimes) in euphemistic oaths.
| 1893 Newark (Ohio) Daily Advocate 24 Nov. 3/2 We old fellers..could 'a' lifted any of these young spraouts who think they're so dad fired smart an their hull diddly darn load. 1949 Reno (Nevada) Evening Gaz. 24 Oct. 4/2 About the only way to avoid being prejudiced on a subject is not to give a diddly dad-burn about it one way or another. 1967J. Kerouac Let. 21 July in Sel. Lett. 1957–69 (1999) 441 Any little diddly piece of money will be appreciated. 1996 Esquire Jan. 38/1 I'm not talking about the diddly stuff such as whether to stick the expense account with that bottle of 1983 Château Margaux you order. |
B. n. = diddly-squat n.
| 1964 Amer. Speech 39 117 Bull- and diddly-shit become bull and diddly. 1969 A. Coppel Little Time for Laughter iii. 270 Not that I give a diddley about what Reeder thinks. 1981 T. Harris Red Dragon (1998) 106 Rankin and Willingham tossed the cell. Beautiful job, but they didn't find diddly. 2001 Nation 22 Jan. 24/1 ‘Liberal anticommunists’ were doing diddly about the shame of raw racial discrimination. |