dickens
part of speech
proper noun (Dickens); noun in phrases (the dickens — old-fashioned)
meaning for a pupil
1) Charles Dickens was a famous English writer of long novels, such as «Oliver Twist», «A Christmas Carol» and «Great Expectations». tree →
2) (old-fashioned, mild) «The dickens» is a gentle word for the devil, used to show surprise or annoyance, as in «What the dickens is that?» tree →
3) A Dickens novel or Dickens's world can mean a picture of poor, dirty, crowded old city streets. tree →
sense in the lessons
In school English, Dickens is read as a classic writer; pupils meet Scrooge, Oliver and Pip. «Dickensian» describes poor, grim old-fashioned places or a story with many odd characters. In everyday talk older people may say «what the dickens» or «as cute as the dickens» (US) instead of a stronger word. It is mostly a name, so it has few other uses.
examples
- Our class is reading «A Christmas Carol» by Charles Dickens. tree →
- Dickens wrote about poor children working in London. tree →
- Scrooge is one of Dickens's most famous characters. tree →
- What the dickens is all that noise? (old-fashioned) tree →
- Grandpa said the puppy was as cute as the dickens. (US, old-fashioned) tree →
- The old workhouse looked like something out of Dickens. tree →
- We watched a play of «Oliver Twist», a Dickens story. tree →
- "What the dickens," said the squire, "do you mean by lying in the middle of the road like that?" tree →
note
A proper noun: write it with a capital D when it means the writer. The possessive is «Dickens's» or «Dickens'». «The dickens» as a mild oath is lower case and old-fashioned; it is a softer word for «the devil», not rude. The adjective is «Dickensian».
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «dickens» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.