guddle
English
WOTD – 5 May 2021
Etymology
From Scots guddle, imitative of the splashing of water, and modelled after words like muddle and puddle, perhaps influenced by Scots gutter (“to spatter with mud”).[1][2]
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, Scotland) IPA(key): /ˈɡʌd(ə)l/
Audio (RP) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɡʌd(ə)l/, [ˈɡə-]
- Rhymes: -ʌdəl
- Hyphenation: gud‧dle
Verb
guddle (third-person singular simple present guddles, present participle guddling, simple past and past participle guddled)
- (transitive, intransitive, Scotland, fishing) To catch (fish) with the hands, especially by groping at the bank of a stream or under stones.
- Synonym: (usually of large catfish) noodle
Derived terms
- guddler
- guddling (noun)
Translations
to catch (fish) with the hands, especially by groping at the bank of a stream or under stones
References
- “guddle, v., n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, OCLC 57069714, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
- “gutter, n., v.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, OCLC 57069714, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
Further reading
- fishing techniques on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- “guddle, v.2”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2019.
- “guddle, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Scots
Etymology
Unknown, but see etymology of English section.
Verb
guddle
- To catch fish with the hands, especially by groping under stones or at the banks of a stream.
- To dabble (as a duck).
- To play in the gutters, mud or puddles.
- To do work of a dirty or greasy nature.
Noun
guddle (plural guddles)
- mess, muddle