| 释义 |
▪ I. twaddle, n. (a.)|ˈtwɒd(ə)l|
[Origin obscure: not found a 1780; perh. an alteration of the earlier twattle (known as v. from 1573, as n. from 1639; in twittle-twattle from c 1550).]
1. Senseless, silly, or trifling talk or writing; empty verbosity; dull and trashy statement or discourse; empty commonplace; prosy nonsense.
1782in Mrs. Delany's Life & Corr. Ser. ii. (1862) III. 125 Fanny Burney has taken possession of the ear of those who found their amusement in reading her twaddle (that piece of old fashioned slang I should not have dared to write or utter, within hearing of my dear mother). 1825Scott Jrnl. 29 Nov., A letter..quoting the twaddle of some old woman. 1851Thackeray Eng. Hum. v, Pouring out endless volumes of sentimental twaddle. 1878M. C. Jackson Chaperon's Cares II. xii. 145 The odious small-talk and twaddle he was compelled to hear. Ibid. xx. 243 No need to talk a lot of twaddle and nonsense to a woman with brains. 1906Sir F. Treves Highways Dorset xviii. 291 He was guided by personal..experience, and not by the twaddle of theorists.
b. In extended sense: Something trashy or worthless; rubbish.
1786Lounger (1787) II. 197 The Ton of London is mere Twaddle,..the only right Ton is to be found in Paris. 1842Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. ii. Babes in Wood, Greek and Latin old twaddle I call!
†2. (See quots. and bore n.2 1.) Obs. slang.
1785European Mag. Dec. 473/2 The favourite phrases fall, and are no more, The Rage, the Thing, the Twaddle, and the Bore. 1785Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue Pref. 2 The fashionable words, or favourite expressions of the day,..vanish without leaving a trace behind, such were the late fashionable words, a Bore and a Twaddle, among the great vulgar. 1796Ibid. (ed. 3), Twaddle, perplexity, confusion, or anything else: a fashionable term that for a while succeeded that of bore.
†3. A person who talks or writes twaddle; a twaddler. Obs.
1802Mrs. J. West Infidel Father II. 100 [He] acknowledged himself to be..bored by detestable twaddles. 1813Moore Post-bag ii. 29 He thinks..the imagination..Could only enter in the noddles Of dull and ledger-keeping twaddles. 1830Macaulay Ess., R. Montgomery's Poems (1887) 142 A respectable and pious gentleman, whose principal fault is that he is something of a twaddle. a1838C. Morris Lyra Urban. (1840) II. 187, I fear I'm becoming a twaddle.
4. attrib. or adj. Of the nature of twaddle; empty and prosy; in quot. 1830, feeble.
1830P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 20 The difference between the twaddle and the vigorous in shooting. 1845Carlyle Cromwell (1871) V. 114 High Art paintings, gilt frames, and twaddle criticisms. 1865Trollope Belton Est. v, I hate the twaddle talk of love. 1889Gretton Memory's Harkb. 219 Twaddle truisms instead of vital truths.
Hence ˈtwaddlesome a., full of or addicted to twaddle; also (nonce-wds.) ˈtwaddledom, the realm of twaddle, the habit of uttering twaddle; ˈtwaddleize v., trans. to reduce to twaddle.
1837Tait's Mag. IV. 454 The *twaddledom of old age.
1850Ibid. XVII. 547/1 Dulling his [Burns's] humour, prosefying his poetry, and *twaddleising his vigour.
1865Pall Mall G. 11 Nov. 10 A grim villain immensely stupid, and..a virtuous duke immensely *twaddlesome. 1892G. Meredith Let. 25 Apr. (1970) II. 1080 Dorothy Penrose, an enormous bulk, is uninterruptedly twaddlesome. 1966K. S. Sorabji in ‘H. MacDiarmid’ Company I've Kept ii. 65 The twaddlesome sentimentalities about trusting the ultimate judgement and good sense of the public.
▪ II. ˈtwaddle, v.1
[f. twaddle n.; or perh. altered, like it, from twattle v.]
1. intr. To utter twaddle; to talk or write in a silly, empty, or trashy style.
1825J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 15 Pope..beats them hollow. Catch him twaddling. 1831Scott Jrnl. 14 Feb., I am afraid I am twaddling. 1862Thackeray Round. Papers, Dessein's, ‘What is that old fellow twaddlin' about?’ cries Brummel.
2. trans. To utter as twaddle, or in a trashy and prosy way.
1837Prescott in Ticknor Life (1864) 271 note, They twaddle out their humour as if they were afraid of its biting too hard. 1850Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. viii. (1872) 273 You are not bound to..twaddle pretended raptures. 1900Westm. Gaz. 19 Jan. 7/1 Instead of twaddling out platitudes.
b. with away: To spend or pass in empty talk.
1826Scott Jrnl. 11 Apr., We twaddled away the evening well enough.
▪ III. † ˈtwaddle, v.2 Obs. rare—1.
[Cf. prec. and twiddle v.1]
intr. To trifle or play with.
1797M. Robinson Walsingham IV. 3, I hate twaddling with other people's happiness.
▪ IV. ˈtwaddle, v.3 Chiefly dial.
[Cf. waddle v., and dial. quaddle in similar sense.]
intr. ‘To walk with a feeble, uncertain gait’ (E.D.D.). So twaddle-toed a.
1823in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. 43 The unfortunate gentleman had walked, or rather twaddled to the office in a pair of loose slippers. 1907Daily News 20 Mar. 6 Greenfinches..have an unmistakable twaddle-toed walk that..makes them look like parrots. |