diddly

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪdəli/

• Audio (AU)

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Short for diddly-squat.

diddly (plural diddlies)

1. (informal) A small amount of no worth.

• See also Thesaurus:modicum.

Imitating a sound.

• tiddely
• tiddly
• tiddledy
• tiddley

diddly

1. A written representation of a trill sound.
   • 1993, Hugh Hood, Be sure to close your eyes: a novel

     On the handcar mornings or evenings he would amuse his companion by pumping away to a triple-tongued pattern, which he would hum emphatically as they rolled along: "dum diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly dee dee-dum dum diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly dee..."

   • 2005, Gordon Giltrap, Total Giltrap: Guitar Encounters of the Fingerstyle Kind

     ...When combined with the following picked note, this gives a rhythmic 'diddly-dum' effect.

   • 2008, Kristie Theobald, Irish Angels

     It's easy enough for him to go “diddly-diddly-diddly-dum” a thousand and one times, whereas with me it's “diddly-diddly-diddly- omigodIcan'tbreathe-dum!”)

Possibly shortened from diddlywhacker.

diddly (plural diddlies)

1. (slang, sometimes childish) penis
   • 1968, Monica Dickens, The Landlord's Daughter, Doubleday & Company (1968), page 268:

     "My child is going to be taught all about sex as soon as he can understand. Mother-in-law is always clucking to him about his diddly. No, no, I say, you must call it penis."

• See also Thesaurus:penis.