piddle
See also: Piddle
English
Alternative forms
- piddel, pidle (obsolete)
Etymology
Unknown, although possibly originally paw + -le (“forming verbs involving continuous or repeated movement”). In later use, a euphemistic diminutive of piss. The noun derives from the verb.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpɪd.l̩/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈpɪdəl/, /ˈpɪd.l̩/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪdl, -ɪdəl
Noun
piddle (plural piddles)
- (Britain, Australia, euphemistic slang) Piss: urine.
- 1870, Cythera's Hymnal, p. 77:
- The spunk with his piddle comes bubbling.
- 1870, Cythera's Hymnal, p. 77:
- (Britain, Australia, euphemistic slang) A piss: an act of urination.
- 1937, Eric Honeywood Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, p. 625:
- Piddle, urine; occ. the act of making water.
- 1937, Eric Honeywood Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, p. 625:
- (Britain, figuratively) Nonsense or a trivial matter.
- 1910 March 2, Rupert Brooke, letter:
- It's the alteration of the little words that makes all the difference between Poetry & piddle.
- 1910 March 2, Rupert Brooke, letter:
Synonyms
- (urine): widdle, see also Thesaurus:urine
- (urination): widdle, see also Thesaurus:urination
Verb
piddle (third-person singular simple present piddles, present participle piddling, simple past and past participle piddled)
- (intransitive) Often followed by about or around: to act or work ineffectually and wastefully.
- 1544 (date written; published 1571), Roger Ascham, Toxophilus, the Schole, or Partitions, of Shooting. […], London: […] Thomas Marshe, OCLC 23644671; republished in The English Works of Roger Ascham, […], London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], and J[ohn] Newbery, […], 1761, OCLC 642424485, book 2, page 136:
- […] neuer ceaſinge piddeling about theyr bowe and ſhaftes, when they be well, […]
- 1991, Douglas Coupland, Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, OCLC 22510632:
- I watch Dag and Claire piddle about the desert.
-
- (intransitive, obsolete) Synonym of peck: to attack or eat with a beak.
- 1598, Richard Barckley, A Discourse of the Felicitie of Man..., p. 217:
- 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.
- 1598, Richard Barckley, A Discourse of the Felicitie of Man..., p. 217:
- (intransitive, now South US, often with 'with') Synonym of nibble: to pick at or toy with one's food, to eat slowly or insubstantially.
- a. 1620, Jeremiah Dyke, Diuers Select Sermons on Seuerall Texts..., p. 292:
- Diseases... that make them eate nothing at all, or else they doe but piddle and trifle.
- 2000 May 9, Myrtle Beach Sun-News, Sect. A, p. 1:
- As about seven seniors quietly eat meat patties, mashed potatoes and canned peaches, Newberry piddles with the food.
- a. 1620, Jeremiah Dyke, Diuers Select Sermons on Seuerall Texts..., p. 292:
- (UK, Australia, South Africa, Namibia, euphemistic slang, intransitive or reflexive) To urinate.
- 1784, cited in Catalogue of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, Vol. VI, p. 128:
- Ha, ha, ha, Paddy shit in his breaches, ha, ha, ha, I shall laugh till I piddle myself.
- 1784, cited in Catalogue of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, Vol. VI, p. 128:
Synonyms
- (urinate): widdle, see also Thesaurus:urinate
Derived terms
- piddling, piddly, piddle away
Related terms
- pightle
- widdle
References
- “piddle, v.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2006. - “piddle, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2006.