dick

DIK/dɪk/

Pluraldicks

Verbdicks, dicking, dicked

10 meanings of dick

Practice

1
penisnounslangvulgarcountable or uncountable
The penis.
Stop letting your dick make your decisions and think about what she actually wants.
He got hit in the dick with a baseball and dropped to the ground.
UsageCrude; with a doctor or in polite company say penis. Set phrase: think with his dick.
Similarcock, chopper
2
rude personnounslangderogatoryoffensivevulgarcountable
A person, traditionally especially a man, who behaves in a highly obnoxious or contemptible way.
He was being a real dick about the parking spot, so I just let him have it.
Only a dick would take credit for someone else's work.
UsageJudges behaviour: be a dick about something, be a dick to someone; now said of women too.
Similarasshole, bastard, asshat, butthead, berk
3
treat badlyverbslangvulgartransitive
To mistreat someone or take unfair advantage of them, often followed by around or up.
Stop dicking me around and tell me whether I got the job.
Car dealers will dick you on the trade-in if you don't know what your car is worth.
UsagePut the person before around: stop dicking me around. In dick you on the trade-in, on introduces the transaction.
Similarscrew, cheat, shaft
4
nothingnounslangvulgarCanadaUSuncountable
Nothing at all.
That fancy warranty is worth dick once the store goes out of business.
I spent my whole day off doing dick, and it was great.
UsageAfter do, mean or be worth: worth dick, did dick; nothing is the safe word.
Similarnothing, squat, zilch, zip, jack
Note
Agent K makes it a punchline in Ed Solomon's Men in Black (1997), telling someone that all his skills mean precisely dick.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Men in Black was released in 1997. en.wikipedia.org
Ed Solomon wrote Men in Black. en.wikipedia.org
Agent K tells another character that his skills mean precisely dick. en.wiktionary.org
5
verbslangvulgartransitive
Of a man, to penetrate someone sexually.
Rumor had it the new bartender had dicked half the waitresses in town.
Some guys dick a woman once and never call her again.
Similarscrew, bang, shag
Note
The man is the subject and his partner the object, and a passive is built with got: your girl got dicked by Ricky Powell, in the Beastie Boys' Car Thief (1989). Clarence Major's Dirty Bird Blues (1996) has the active in a denial: I ain't never dicked her.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
Car Thief is a Beastie Boys song released in 1989 on Paul's Boutique. beastieboys.com
The song contains the quoted wording, illustrating a passive formed with got and naming Ricky Powell as the agent. en.wikipedia.org
Clarence Major's Dirty Bird Blues was first published in 1996, before its 1997 paperback edition. english.ucdavis.edu
The novel contains the quoted denial, with I as subject and her as object of the active verb. en.wiktionary.org
6
sex from a mannounslangvulgaruncountable
Sexual intercourse with a man.
She was getting plenty of dick from him but not much respect.
Once she moved to the city, she found that dick was easy to get and love was not.
UsageTakes some rather than a: get some dick.

7
detectivenoundatedUScountable
A detective.
A railroad dick caught two drifters sleeping in a boxcar outside Omaha.
“I am a detective,” said Hercule Poirot with the modest air of one who says “I am a king.” “Good God!” The young man seemed seriously taken aback. “Do you mean that girl actually totes about a dumb dick?”
1937, Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile
UsageUsed in private dick and railroad dick.
Similardetective, gumshoe, sleuth, investigator
Note
Detective was clipped and altered to make this word, so it carries none of the vulgar edge of the anatomical slang. It is dated American slang, often heard in private dick and railroad dick, and Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile (1937) has a young man, taken aback that Poirot is a detective, ask whether a girl totes about a dumb dick.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
The detective sense derives from a shortening and alteration of detective. en.wiktionary.org
The detective sense is labelled dated American slang, with private dick and railroad dick as examples. en.wiktionary.org
Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile, first published in 1937. en.wikipedia.org
A surprised young man asks whether the girl carries a detective around; the wording quoted in the note is accurate. openlab.citytech.cuny.edu
8
nounobsoletecountable
Any male person, whether a man or a boy.
Note
Most of the word's meanings start here. Dick, the pet form of Richard, came to stand for any ordinary man, an everyman, and from that came the body part and the insult. The neutral meaning of a man or boy has itself died out, so a modern reader meets it only in older writing.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
Dick is a pet form of Richard. en.wiktionary.org
The name developed an everyman sense, from which the body-part and insult meanings derive. en.wiktionary.org
The neutral male-person meaning is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
9
nounobsolete
A declaration.
"He seems to set a deal of store by her, though. There's some young 'ooman at home, where she lives, I'd take my dying dick."
1875, Mrs. George Croft Huddleston, Bluebell
Note
Here the word is short for declaration, cut down and altered the way the detective word was. It turns up in an oath: a speaker in Mrs. George Croft Huddleston's Bluebell (1875) says I'd take my dying dick, staking a word on a deathbed declaration. The meaning is obsolete, so a reader meets it only in older dialogue like that.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
Dick meaning declaration is a shortening and alteration of declaration. sr.wiktionary.org
Dick meaning detective was also formed by shortening and alteration. en.wiktionary.org
Bluebell is by Mrs. George Croft Huddleston and was published in 1875. gutenberg.org
A character uses the exact phrase 'I'd take my dying dick' as an emphatic assurance invoking a dying declaration. gutenberg.org
10
numeraldialectalCumbria
Ten, in the numbers used for counting sheep in Cumbria.

More uses

dick aroundto waste time or mess about instead of doing something useful

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of dick apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–6, 8

Richard has the pet form Dick, and the word ultimately goes back to that name. Dick came to mean any ordinary man, an "everyman," which led to the other senses.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

Dick is a pet form of Richard. en.wiktionary.org
The word ultimately derives from the name Dick. en.wiktionary.org
Dick developed the meaning of an ordinary man or everyman, from which further senses developed. en.wiktionary.org

Meaning 7

A shortened and altered form of detective.

Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

The detective sense of dick is a shortened and altered form of detective. en.wiktionary.org

Meaning 9

A shortened and altered form of declaration, built from its first sounds, dec(laration).

Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

In this sense, dick is a shortened and altered form of declaration, based on its opening sounds. en.wiktionary.org