piddle
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L325455 on Wikidata ↗verb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L332501 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈpɪd.l̩/ / /ˈpɪdəl/
name
Etymology: Unknown, but probably an Anglo-Saxon word for small watercourse, as several Piddles have been found in England. One source says it comes from Old English pidele (“marsh or fen”). The word predates the modern noun or verb piddle.
- A small river in Dorset, England.
- A brook in Worcestershire, England.
noun
Etymology: Unknown. Compare regional German piddlen, pitteln, pütteln, pühteln (“to pick at something, pick at one's food”), dialectal German Pitzel (“small effort, small task”). Alternatively, perhaps originally from paw or put + -le (suffix forming verbs involving continuous or repeated movement). In later use, a euphemistic diminutive of piss, though not directly related to it. The noun derives from the verb.
- Piss: urine.
“The spunk with his piddle comes bubbling.”
- A piss: an act of urination.
“Piddle, urine; occ. the act of making water.”
“On the way out to the gardens, he had to stop for a piddle but was so weak he couldn't maintain his balance while lifting his rear leg.”
- Nonsense or a trivial matter.
“It's the alteration of the little words that makes all the difference between Poetry & piddle.”
verb
Etymology: Unknown. Compare regional German piddlen, pitteln, pütteln, pühteln (“to pick at something, pick at one's food”), dialectal German Pitzel (“small effort, small task”). Alternatively, perhaps originally from paw or put + -le (suffix forming verbs involving continuous or repeated movement). In later use, a euphemistic diminutive of piss, though not directly related to it. The noun derives from the verb.
- (Often followed by about or around): to act or work ineffectually and wastefully.
“[…] neuer ceaſinge piddeling about theyr bowe and ſhaftes, when they be well, […]”
“I watch Dag and Claire piddle about the desert[.]”
- Synonym of peck: to attack or eat with a beak.
“As [Mahomet] was preaching... there commeth a doue flying towards him, & alighteth vpon his shoulder, and pidleth in his eare, looking for meate, hauing vsed her before to feede in his eare for the same purpose.”
- Synonym of nibble: to pick at or toy with one's food, to eat slowly or insubstantially.
“Diseases... that make them eate nothing at all, or else they doe but piddle and trifle.”
“As about seven seniors quietly eat meat patties, mashed potatoes and canned peaches, Newberry piddles with the food.”
- To urinate.
“Ha, ha, ha, Paddy shit in his breaches, ha, ha, ha, I shall laugh till I piddle myself.”