| 释义 |
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.
1893Newark (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. 1949Reno (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. 1996Esquire 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.
1964Amer. Speech 39 117 Bull- and diddly-shit become bull and diddly. 1969A. Coppel Little Time for Laughter iii. 270 Not that I give a diddley about what Reeder thinks. 1981T. Harris Red Dragon (1998) 106 Rankin and Willingham tossed the cell. Beautiful job, but they didn't find diddly. 2001Nation 22 Jan. 24/1 ‘Liberal anticommunists’ were doing diddly about the shame of raw racial discrimination. |