Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a general intensified interrog.; a euph. for what the devil...? phr.

c.1597		Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor III i: I cannot tell what the dickens his name is my husband had.
1676		D’Urfey Madam Fickle I i: Old Hock! what a Dickens is that?
1697		M. Pix Innocent Mistress III iv: What a dickens ails me?
1714		A. Smith Lives of Most Noted Highway-men, etc. I 66: What a dickens is the meaning of this?
1794		‘Peter Pindar’ ‘Subjects for Painters’ Works (1794) II 308: Then what a dickens can I do or say?
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London II 28: Aye, aye, but what the dickens ha’ve they wrapt a blanket round un vor?
1840		Leeds Intelligencer 19 Dec. 7/1: What the dickens did ye bring me from my comfortable state [...] for [...] ye poor half-starved, whey-faced gossoon!
1859		H. Kingsley Recollections of G. Hamlyn (1891) 342: ‘Why, what the Dickens’ (I used that strong expression) ‘brings you here, my lad?’.
1867		Leicester Jrnl 23 Aug. 7/5: What the dickens is that fellow going to do with four boxes Tom Cats?
1883		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 27 Mar. 4/3: ‘Protoplasm.’ ‘And what the dickens is protoplasm?’.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 246: What the dickens [...] can you want, going away with this familiar of yours at this hour of the night?
1891		G.R. Sims ‘The “Lancet”’ Dagonet Ditties 146: The neighbours stood and wondered what the dickens it could mean.
1899		E.W. Hornung Amateur Cracksman (1992) 25: A man’s reach must exceed his grasp, dear boy, or what the dickens is a heaven for?
1906		New Boys’ World 22 Dec. 85: What the dickens does he mean?
1911		Tamworth Herald 27 May 3/3: Madam! What the dickens do you mean by allowing that brat to snatch of my wig?
1922		‘Sapper’ Black Gang 400: Who the deuce are you and what the dickens do you want to talk to me about?
1927		(con. 1920s) S. Lewis Elmer Gantry 419: What the dickens is the church accomplishing, really?
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 113: Jeeves [...] what the dickens is all this?
1949		R. Park Poor Man’s Orange 57: What the diggings is the matter with you?
1949		Wodehouse Mating Season 106: I know what a dickens of a sweat these love letters are.
1954		A. Petry Narrows 170: What the dickens was he thinking about anyway.
1958		R. Prather Scrambled Yeggs 113: My wife smelled the liquor on my breath and wanted to know what the dickens I was up to.
1960		Wodehouse Jeeves in the Offing 21: A Bertram, in a word, who was asking himself what the dickens this was all about.
2000		Indep. Rev. 15 Feb. 12: What the Dickens is he up to?