dickens Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a word used in exclamations of confusion
    deuce; devil.
    • what the devil
    • the deuce with it
    • the dickens you say
  2. noun English writer whose novels depicted and criticized social injustice (1812-1870)
    Charles John Huffam Dickens; Charles Dickens.

WordNet

Dick"ens noun ∨ interjection
Etymology
Perh. a contr. of the dim. devilkins.
Definitions
  1. The devil. A vulgar euphemism.
    I can not tell what the dickens his name is. Shak.

Webster 1913