diddle, n.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

diddle n.¹

[SE diddle, to walk unsteadily; i.e. the effects of the liquor]

1. gin or genever.

1724		‘John Sheppard’s Last Epistle’ in Dly Jrnl (London) 16 Nov. 1: Moll Frisky was here t'other Night, / She tipp’d me a Quartern of Diddle.
1728		T. Walker The Quaker’s Opera I i: qu.: What hast thou got? poor.: Sir, you may have what you please, Wind or right Nantz, [...] or Apricock-Water, or Roll-me-in-the-Kennel, or Diddle.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1750		Love at First Sight 218: Sir Dillberry Diddle, Sir Humkin Buz, and his two Daughters, will speak a Dialogue.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1791		‘A Song Made by a Flash Cove’ in Confessions of Thomas Mount 21: My blowen came here t’other night, / She fetch’d us a jorum of diddle.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1836		W.H. Smith ‘The Thieves’s Chaunt’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 120: The liquors around are diamond bright, / And the diddle is best of all.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
2019		P. Baker Fabulosa 291/1: diddle gin.

2. liquor in general.

c.1800		‘Song No. 25’ Papers of Francis Place (1819) n.p.: Moll Spriggins came here t’other night, / She tipp’d us a jorum of diddle.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: diddle rum, brandy, gin, &c.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 12: Diddle – spirituous liquors.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.

In compounds

diddle-cove (n.)

(UK Und.) a keeper of a gin or liquor tavern.

a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795) n.p.: Diddle cove, The keeper of a gin shop.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 24: Diddle Cove, a landlord.
2019		P. Baker Fabulosa 291/1: diddle cove keeper of a gin or spirit shop. Can be extended to refer to a person serving behind a bar or working in an off-licence.

diddle-shop (n.)

a gin-shop.

1724

‘Frisky Moll’s Song’ in J. Thurmond Harlequin Sheppard 23: A Famble, a Tattle, and two Popps, / Had my Boman when he was ta’en; / But had he not Bowz’d in the Diddle Shops, / He’d still been in Drury-Lane.

diddle-spinner (n.)

(UK Und.) a gin-shop keeper.

c.1850

Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.

diddle n.1

In compounds

diddle n.¹