the dickens

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Contents

English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

See dickens.

Adverb [edit]

the dickens

  1. (euphemistic) The devil.
    She can go to the dickens for what she said.
  2. Used as an intensifier.
    Why the dickens did he do that?
    • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IV
      "That's it," I exclaimed, "--that's just the taste exactly, though I haven't experienced it since boyhood; but how can water from a flowing stream, taste thus, and what the dickens makes it so warm? It must be at least 70 or 80 Fahrenheit, possibly higher."

Synonyms [edit]

See also [edit]

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