Adjacent Words

dickens definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a word used in exclamations of confusion; "what the devil"; "the deuce with it"; "the dickens you say" [syn: devil, deuce, dickens]
2: English writer whose novels depicted and criticized social injustice (1812-1870) [syn: Dickens, Charles Dickens, Charles John Huffam Dickens]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: euphemism Date: 1598 devil, deuce

Merriam Webster's

biographical name Charles John Huffam 1812-1870 pseudonym Boz English novelist • Dickensian adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (usu. prec. by how, what, why, etc., the) colloq. (esp. in exclamations) deuce; the Devil (what the dickens are you doing here?). Etymology: 16th c.: prob. a use of the surname Dickens

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dickens Dick"ens, n. or interj. [Perh. a contr. of the dim. devilkins.] The devil. [A vulgar euphemism.] I can not tell what the dickens his name is. --Shak.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. (Colloq.) The Deuce, the Devil.

Foolish Dictionary

An author; polite term for the devil.