What’s the origin of the phrase ‘Like the dickens’?
This phrase has nothing to do with Charles Dickens. Dickens is a euphemism, specifically a minced-oath, for the word devil, possibly via devilkins.
Shakespeare used ‘dickens’ in ‘the Merry Wives of Windsor, 1600:
I cannot tell what the dickens his name is my husband had him of.
See other phrases and sayings from Shakespeare.
See also: What the dickens.