| 释义 |
diddler|ˈdɪdlə(r)|
[Of obscure origin.
Found first in the name of ‘Jeremy Diddler’, the chief character in Kenney's farce, ‘Raising the Wind’, brought out in 1803. The name was of course intended to be contemptuous and ludicrous, and it seems probable that it was formed on diddle v.3 sense 1, or on the first element of the earlier diddle-daddle, diddle-dum (see diddle-); it is also probable that Jeremy Diddler's characteristic methods of ‘raising the wind’, by continually borrowing small sums which he does not pay back, and otherwise sponging upon people, gave rise to the current sense of the verb (diddle v.3 sense 2), of which ‘diddler’ is now naturally viewed as the agent-noun.]
A mean swindler or cheat; one who diddles people out of what belongs to them.
1803J. Kenney Raising Wind i. i, in Inchbald Coll. Farces (1815) I. 113 Oh, it's Mr. Diddler trying to joke himself into credit at the bar. Ibid. 114, I wasn't born two hundred miles north of Lunnun, to be done by Mr. Diddler, I know. Ibid. 116 [Diddler loquitur] This it is to carry on trade without a capital. Once I paid my way..but thou art now, Jerry Diddler, little better than a vagabond. a1849Poe Diddling Wks. 1864 IV. 268 Your diddler is guided by self-interest. 1863Holland Lett. Joneses iii. 48, I think you are a diddler and a make-believe. |