diddle n.1
1. gin or genever.
‘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. | ||
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. | ||
, , , | Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725]. | |
, , | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | |
‘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. | ||
Lex. Balatronicum. | ||
Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | ||
Musa Pedestris (1896) 120: The liquors around are diamond bright, / And the diddle is best of all. | ‘The Thieves’s Chaunt’ in Farmer||
Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open. | ||
, | Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. | |
, , | Sl. Dict. | |
Sl. Dict. | ||
Sl. and Its Analogues. | ||
Fabulosa 291/1: diddle gin. |
2. liquor in general.
‘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. | ||
Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: diddle rum, brandy, gin, &c. | ||
Modern Flash Dict. 12: Diddle – spirituous liquors. | ||
Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open. | ||
Vocabulum. |
In compounds
(UK Und.) a keeper of a gin or liquor tavern.
New Dict. Cant (1795) n.p.: Diddle cove, The keeper of a gin shop. | ||
Dict. Sl. and Cant. | ||
Flash Dict. | ||
Modern Flash Dict. | ||
Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open. | ||
New and Improved Flash Dict. | ||
Vocabulum. | ||
Aus. Sl. Dict. 24: Diddle Cove, a landlord. | ||
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. |
a gin-shop.
‘Frisky Moll’s Song’ in 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. |
(UK Und.) a gin-shop keeper.
New and Improved Flash Dict. |