dickens
noun/ˈdɪkɪnz/ · /ˈdɪkənz/
Etymology Origin: 1590–1600; apparently a fanciful use of the proper name Dicken, diminutive form of Dick.
1
Euphemistic The devil.
- She can go to the dickens for what she said.
- You scared the dickens out of me.
1 more example
- “Four weeks ago, I was sitting down for breakfast with my beautiful wife, Evie. Evie and I were sitting down with our two beautiful little boys, Connor and C-C-- Cah-- ristopher, and Christopher looks up to me-- he's six years old and full of the dickens--”2023 July 27, Max Brockman & Shana Gohd, “The Campaign” (8:49 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 5, episode 4, spoken by Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch):
2
A disturbance or row.
- Hugh considered saying, Then I guess I'll just have to kick you a few times instead, you frog son of a bitch. Then he thought of that fat bastard Keeton, handing him a pink slip for kicking up dickens in the local tavern.1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:
- And lastly, thanks to my children, Dutch and Tallulah, for allowing me to see the magic of everything I love about popular culture anew through their eyes. This one is for you two dickens!2013, Robert C. Sickels, “Acknowledgments”, in 100 Entertainers Who Changed America: An Encyclopedia of Pop Culture Luminaries, Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, LLC, →ISBN:
3
Used as an intensifier in the phrase the dickens; see that entry.
- Why the dickens did he do that?
- We had the dickens of a row.
- Derived terms
- play the dickens with, the dickens out of, the dickens you say
- Related terms
- Dickensian