释义 |
▪ I. tiddly, n. and a.1 slang.|ˈtɪdlɪ| Also 9 titley, 9– tiddley. [Origin uncertain: cf. tiddlywink 1.] A. n. Drink; an alcoholic drink, esp. a ‘short’.
1859Hotten Dict. Slang 109 Titley, drink. 1864Ibid. 258 Titley, drink, generally applied to intoxicating beverages. 1895Punch 18 May 230/2 It took two 'ot tiddleys to warm 'er. Ibid. 12 Oct. 180/1 A helderly humorous gent, on the tiddley. 1923E. P. Oppenheim Inevitable Millionaires xxiv. 259 Just a tiddley to drink success to the club. 1930E. V. Lucas Down Sky 222 It wasn't oysters that she really wanted, but..tiddly. B. adj. Drunk, tipsy.
1905To-day XLVI. 182/2 If ever you was tiddly in crossing the old 'un [sc. a bridge], it was as easy as anything to fall into that blarsted river. 1909Chambers's Jrnl. 17 Apr. 316/1 Mind you don't get tiddley and blow the gaff. 1930W. S. Maugham Cakes & Ale xxiii. 232, I don't say he ever got tiddly, but he used to like to sit in the bar and talk. 1958B. Nichols Sweet & Twenties xvi. 208 No more wine, George, thank you. I shall be quite tiddly. 1979‘J. Scott’ Angels in your Beer xxv. 254 Yvonne giggled. ‘I do believe I'm tiddly,’ she said. ▪ II. tiddly, a.2 colloq.|ˈtɪdlɪ| Also 9 tidly; tiddley. [var. tiddy a.] Very little, tiny. Freq. in phr. tiddly bit.
1868Trollope He Knew (1869) I. xxiii. 183 The smallest little ‘tiddly’ things do so often turn up trumps. 1885E. C. Sharland Ways & Means in Devonshire Village 42 I'd only got but a tiddly bit o' that mutton left. 1888B. Lowsley Gloss. Berks. Words s.v. Tidly, I had un in my arms when a was a tidly little chap. 1937John o' London's Weekly 5 Feb. 762/2 When there was a bad harvest he hung the little tiddley sheaves o' corn on his garden railing to let God Almighty know how badly he'd been treated! 1950Wodehouse Nothing Serious 106 A mere tiddly seaside competition. 1956‘N. Shute’ Beyond Black Stump viii. 237 If I have one will you have just a little tiddly bit, in your coke? 1978J. Goodman Last Sentence iii. 114 The whole bally case for the prosecution is built on tiddly bits of non-evidence. ▪ III. tiddly, a.3 slang (orig. and chiefly Naut.).|ˈtɪdlɪ| Also tiddley. [perh. f. tidy a.] 1. Smart, shipshape, spruce.
1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 281 Tiddly, smartly dressed... Also applied to a ship of smart appearance. 1942G. Hackforth-Jones One-One-One i. 7 Like all sailors he took great pleasure in keeping his surroundings what he described as ‘tiddley’. 1960‘N. Shute’ Trustee from Toolroom ii. 25 We'll have to get everything all tiddley.’ 1973R. Dougall In & out of Box 119 The aim was to achieve as pale a blue on the collar as possible—this was considered ‘tiddley’, which in Naval parlance means smart or comme il faut. It was also tiddley to have smart horizontal creases in the bell-bottom trousers like a concertina. 2. Special collocation: tiddly suit, one's best suit of clothes.
1943‘Taffrail’ White Ensigns 33 ‘Tiddley’ suits with light jumpers and bell-bottomed trousers cut far wider than the regulation permitted. 1951C. Causley Farewell, Aggie Weston 9 Farewell, Aggie Weston, the barracks at Guz, Hang my tiddley suit on the door. |