Dido \Di"do\, n.; pl. Didos. A shrewd trick; an antic; a caper.

To cut a dido, to play a trick; to cut a caper; -- perhaps so called from the trick of Dido, who having bought so much land as a hide would cover, is said to have cut it into thin strips long enough to inclose a spot for a citadel.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)