diddle

tr.v., -dled, -dling, -dles.
Slang. To cheat; swindle: "The Swiss have special laws for people who diddle hotels" (John le Carré).

[Perhaps akin to Old English dydrian, to deceive, or from variant of dialectal doodle, fool, simpleton, akin to Low German dudeldopp.]

diddler did'dler n.

did·dle² (dĭd'l)

v., -dled, -dling, -dles.

v.tr.

1. To jerk up and down or back and forth.
2. Vulgar Slang.
   1. To have intercourse with (a woman).
   2. To practice masturbation upon.

v.intr.

1. To shake rapidly; jiggle.
2. Slang. To play experimentally; toy: The children diddled with the knobs on the television all afternoon.
3. Slang. To waste time: diddled around all morning.

[Probably alteration of dialectal didder, to quiver, tremble, from Middle English dideren, variant of daderen, doderen, perhaps from Low German.]

verb

To get money or something else from by deceitful trickery: bilk, cheat, cozen, defraud, gull, mulct, rook, swindle, victimize. Informal chisel, flimflam, take, trim. Slang do, gyp, stick, sting. See honest/dishonest.

diddle²

verb

To pass time without working or in avoiding work: bum¹ (around), idle, laze, loaf, loiter, lounge, shirk. Slang goldbrick, goof (off). See industrious/lazy.

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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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The verb has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: deprive of by deceit
  Synonyms: victimize, swindle, rook, goldbrick, nobble, bunco, defraud, scam, mulct, gyp, con

Meaning #2: manipulate manually or in one's mind or imagination
  Synonyms: toy, fiddle, play

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Dansk (Danish)
1.
v. tr. - snyde, svindle, fuppe

2.
v. tr. - vippe op og ned, danse
v. intr. - vakle, drysse, spilde tiden, rokke, ikke kunne sidde stille

Nederlands (Dutch)
afzetten, bezwendelen

Français (French)
1.
v. tr. - rouler, escroquer, extorquer à qch à qn

2.
v. tr. - secouer vivement
v. intr. - secouer vivement, traînasser

Deutsch (German)
1.
v. - betrügen, ruinieren

2.
v. - herumtrödeln, herumzappeln, hüpfen, schütteln

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - μπουσουλίζω, (καθομ.) εξαπατώ, ρίχνω, (ΗΠΑ) χασομερώ, χρονοτριβώ

Italiano (Italian)
gabbare

Português (Portuguese)
v. - enganar, perder tempo

Русский (Russian)
отдернуться, мошенничать, бездельничать

Español (Spanish)
1.
v. tr. - estafar, embaucar

2.
v. tr. - mover hacia arriba y hacia abajo
v. intr. - agitar

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - snuva, blåsa ngn på ngt

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 欺骗, 骗取

2. 浪费, 浪费时间, 瞎摆弄, 闲混

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
v. tr. - 浪費
v. intr. - 浪費時間, 瞎擺弄, 閒混

2.
v. tr. - 欺騙, 騙取

한국어 (Korean)
1.
v. tr. - 사기 치다, (시간을) 허비하다

2.
v. tr. - 위아래로 심하게 요동 시키다
v. intr. - 빠르게 흔들다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - だます, おちぶれさせる, 前後に激しく動く, いじくる

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يغش وبخاصه في أمور صغيرة, يتلكأ ( يضيع الوقت), يعبث ( على سبيل الملاعبه)‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮הונה, רימה‬
v. tr. - ‮הונה, רימה‬
v. intr. - ‮בזבז זמן‬

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