diggety

diggety

See also: no diggety

English

Alternative forms

• diggity
• ziggety

Etymology

Fanciful extension of another lexical item, possibly hot dog (interjection)[1] or dig +‎ -ety, a suffix used to extend monosyllabic words.[2] Compare African American Vernacular English dig. Attested since the end of the nineteenth century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪɡəti/, [ˈdɪɡəɾi]

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Adverb

diggety (comparative more diggety, superlative most diggety)

1. (informal) A general intensifier.
   • 1947, William Edward Wilson, Cresent City, page 102:

     “Goddam!” he yelled. “God diggety damn!” and “Whoopee!” and “I'll murder you! I'll murder you both!” and “Goddamn two-bit whore!”

   • 2009 March 3, Eclipse-of-42, “Of Glitz and Fury, Ch. 4”, in Deviant Art‎:

     I love Grubba! He's like the most diggety dang DY-NO-MITE character in his game.

2. (informal, humorous) Used to extend the form of the verb dig.
   • 1998, Nancy Van Laan, With a Whoop and a Holler: A Bushel of Lore from Way Down South, page 34:

     When he sees that ol’ tiger movin’ closer, Brer Rabbit does what Brer Rabbit does best. He grabs a spade and a-diggety-dig-a-diggin’ he goes, as fast as all get out.

   • 1995, Stephen Schwartz (lyrics), Alan Menken (music), “Mine, Mine, Mine”, in Pocahontas (soundtrack), performed by David Ogden Stiers and Mel Gibson:

     Dig and dig and dig and diggety / Dig and dig and dig and diggety-dig

Interjection

diggety

1. (informal) Used to express excitement, surprise, or similar strong emotion.

   hot diggety dog

   • 1937, Jerome Bahr, All Good Americans, page 109:

     He stared speechless at the booing stands for a moment and then, instead of slinking away, threw his bat into the air and shouted: “Hot Dawg! Diggety diggety dam! Baby cut your toenails;”

2. (uncommon, informal) Imitative of rapid movement or commotion.
   • 2015, Ellen Wright, “‘Do you want mustard?’ ‘Yup!’”, in Charles Wolfe and James Akenson, editors, The Women of Country Music, page 35-36:

     [We] decided we was gonna run around in a circle by Pop’s chair. We'd go diggety, diggety, diggety, yerr. Go as close to him as we could possibly get.

Synonyms

• (expression of excitement or surprise): See Thesaurus:wow

Noun

diggety (uncountable)

1. Alternative spelling of diggity

Derived terms

• hot diggety
• hot diggety dog

 

References

1. “hot diggety dog, int.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2008.
2. “-ety, suffix”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, November 2010.