dickens

See also: Dickens

English

Etymology

Origin: 1590–1600; apparently a fanciful use of the proper name Dicken, diminutive form of Dick.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈdɪkɪnz/, /ˈdɪkənz/
- Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -ɪkənz

Noun

dickens

(euphemistic) The devil.
She can go to the dickens for what she said.

You scared the dickens out of me.
- 2023 July 27, Max Brockman & Shana Gohd, “The Campaign” (8:49 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows‎^[1], season 5, episode 4, spoken by Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch):
  “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--”
In the phrase the dickens (Used as an intensifier).
Why the dickens did he do that?

We had the dickens of a row.
- 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 123:
  "What the dickens does it all mean? The Martians can't get out of their pit, can they?"
A disturbance or row.
- 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:
  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.
- 2013, Robert C. Sickels, “Acknowledgments”, in 100 Entertainers Who Changed America: An Encyclopedia of Pop Culture Luminaries, Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, LLC, →ISBN:
  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!

Synonyms

(intensifier): on earth, the hell, the devil, the heck, the fuck

Derived terms

References

Random House Dictionary

Anagrams

snicked