| 释义 |
diddly-squat, n. and a. colloq. (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
Brit. |ˈdɪdlɪskwɒt|, |ˈdɪdlˌɪskwɒt|, U.S. |ˈdɪdliˌskwɔt|, |ˈdɪdlˌiˌskwɔt|, |ˈdɪdliˌskwɑt|, |ˈdɪdlˌiˌskwɑt|
Forms: 19– diddley-squat, 19– diddly-squat, 19– didilly-squat
[Alteration (probably euphemistic) of doodly-squat at squat n.4, probably after diddly adj.]
A. n. As a count noun: a thing of little value or significance; esp. in not to give a diddly-squat. As a mass noun: nothing at all; (in negative constructions) anything. Cf. doodly-squat at squat n.4
1963T. Doulis Path for our Valor 274 No skin off my ass, as the man says..who gives a diddly-squat? 1972National Lampoon Aug. 60 So many of the candidates..just don't know didilly squat. 1983Washington Post 24 Oct. c6/2 Nobody except his family and friends..seems to give a diddly squat about..[him] as a human being. 1989C. Roman Foreplay xxii. 258 My funds are depleting fast, I've got diddley-squat to live on. 1994Loaded Sept. 37/1 There won't be diddley squat going on in the city today.
B. adj. Insignificant; trifling.
1985National Rev. 4 Oct. 48/3 It's stupid, because the argument—that Grenada was a flop, and Bush won't admit it—rests on such diddley-squat evidence. 1989C. Stoll Cuckoo's Egg xx. 103 Eight-bit and sixteen-bit computers are diddlysquat machines; the thirty-two-bit systems are the biggies. 1992E. Goudge Such Devoted Sisters ii. 312 The dipshit who ran the health club..was..always ragging his ass about some diddly-squat thing. 2000South Bend (Indiana) Tribune (Nexis) 10 Dec. a1 The shock of energy bills crosses all income levels. ‘There isn't a diddly squat thing I can do about it, except pay it,’ barked Don. |