▪ I. † ˈdido1 Obs.
[Skeat suggests ‘a tale of Dido’, an old story.]
? An old story, a thrice-told tale.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 172 ‘It is but a dido’, quod þis doctour, ‘a dysoures tale’. [C. has the v.rr. a dydo, a dico, a dede, abido.] |
▪ II. dido2 dial. and U.S. slang.
(ˈdaɪdəʊ)
[Origin uncertain.]
A prank, a caper; a disturbance, ‘row’, ‘shindy’; esp. in phr. to cut (up) didoes.
| 1807 J. R. Shaw Life ix. 140 A jolly Irishman, who cut as many didos as I could for the life of me. 1843–4 Haliburton Sam Slick in Eng. (Bartlett), Them Italian singers recitin' their jabber..and cuttin' didoes at a private concert. 1851 New York Tribune 10 Apr. (Farmer Amer.), We should have had just the same didoes cut up by the chivalry. 1869 Mrs. Stowe Oldtown Folks 106 They will be a consultin' together, and cuttin' up didos. 1880 L. Parr Adam & Eve I. vi 151, I thought..you'd be cuttin' up a Dido with everything. 1891 ‘Q.’ Noughts & Crosses 76 There was a pretty dido goin' on atween the dree. 1893 Q. [Couch] Delectable Duchy 271 What a dido he do kick up, to be sure. 1919 H. Jenkins John Dene of Toronto (1920) v. 84 ‘Well, you can't,’ snapped John Dene, ‘receiver's off. Your boys have been playing dido all morning on my phone.’ |