| 释义 |
▪ I. piddle, v.|ˈpɪd(ə)l|
[Origin obscure. The form is that of a dim. or freq. vb. Cf. the synonymous peddle v. 3, paddle v.1 2, 3, pittle v. Of these the first two seem to be corruptions of piddle, erroneously confused with peddle, paddle in their proper senses. Pittle was an inconsiderable variant. (It is questionable if sense 2 here and in pittle v. are the same word as 1.)
Words corresponding in form and sense are used in some German dial.: viz. Hessian piddeln (v. Pfister Nachtr. z. Vilmar's Idiotikon v. Hessen, 1886, p. 204); Westerwald pitteln, pütteln (Schmidt Westerwäld. Idiot. 1800, p. 138); Jülich and Berg pötteln (ibid.). The first two, if old may go back to an orig. *puddlian or *puddilôn, which would also give an OE. *pyddlan and Eng. piddle; but the late appearance of the Eng. word, with absence of evidence as to the age of the Ger. dial. forms, leaves their relation doubtful. Even if related, the ulterior etymology (of root *pudd-) is unknown.]
1. a. intr. To work or act in a trifling, paltry, petty, or insignificant way; to trifle, toy, dally; = peddle v. 3. (Always depreciatory.) Now freq. with about, around.
1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 117 Neuer ceasynge piddelynge about your bowe and shaftes whan they be well. 1594Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits (1616) 182 Such as I haue marked to be good practitioners, do all piddle somewhat in the art of versifying, and raise not vp their contemplation verie high. 1602― Cornwall 65 b, Very few among them make use of that opportunity..for building of shipping, and trafficking in grosse: yet some of the Eastern townes piddle that way. 1606Sir G. Goosecappe ii. i. (Bullen O. Pl.), My head must devise something, while my feet are pidling thus. a1619Fletcher Wit without M. i. ii, She..begins to piddle with Philosophie. 1752H. Walpole Lett. Mann (1834) III. 15, I am always piddling about ornaments and improvements for Strawberry-Hill. 1754Connoisseur No. 7 ⁋2 During our conversation he was..piddling with her fingers, tapping her cheek, or playing with her hair. 1776Adam Smith W.N. iv. vii. (1869) II. 205 Instead of piddling for the little prizes..they might then hope..to draw some of the great prizes. 1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Piddle, to be employed in trifles or to do things ineffectually; to take short steps in walking. 1878Browning Poets Croisic lxxxviii, Fussily feeble, harmless..Piddling at so-called satire. 1938M. K. Rawlings Yearling iii. 25 Don't you and your Pa be gone too long now, follerin' that fool hound. I'm o' no mind to set around waitin' breakfast and you two piddlin' around in the woods. 1957R. A. Heinlein Door into Summer (1960) ii. 32, I piddled along with the help of the shop mechanics until I had Frank looking less like a three-car crash. 1961I. Jefferies It wasn't Me! iv. 56 We piddled about with ballistics too, but mostly talk. 1973N.Y. Times 10 June vii. 22/3 Since the whole family piddled with archery, we had our gear with us. 1977Sounds 9 July 22/3 He returned to New York and ‘piddled around’ doing Public Relations.
b. Said of a bird: To move the bill about, feeling for food in a hole, heap of refuse, etc.
1598R. Barckley Felic. Man (1631) 225 As he [Mahomet] was preaching..there commeth a Dove flying towards him, and alighteth upon his shoulder, and pidleth in his eare looking for meate, having used her before to feede in his eare for the same purpose. 1651Ogilby æsop (1665) 63 This [Stork] piddles with his bill While young Sir Reynard did whole Rivers swill. 1799J. Struthers To Blackbird vii, Beware in that caff heap to piddle.
c. To trifle or toy with one's food; to pick at one's food instead of eating heartily.
a1620J. Dyke Sel. Serm. (1640) 292 Diseases..that make them eate nothing at all, or else they doe but piddle and trifle. 1660Swinnock Door Salv. Op. 177 If thou shouldst sit at table and see a man pidling at his meat, picking and chusing. a1761Cawthorn Poems (1771) 112 Is there a saint that would not laugh to see The good man pidling with his fricassee? 1785Mrs. Montagu in Doran Lady of last Cent. xiii. (1873) 330 The lovers sigh'd and look'd..and piddled a little on a gooseberry tart. 1824Byron Juan xv. lxvi, And ‘entremets’ to piddle with at hand.
d. trans. piddle away, to trifle away.
1760C. Johnston Chrysal (1822) I. 143 A house where she used to piddle away her leisure hours. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §239/3 Waste,..piddle away. 1958‘E. McBain’ Killer's Payoff (1960) xvii. 160 Ruther had inherited money which..he'd piddled away. 1965[see interface 2 a]. 1978D. A. Stanwood Memory of Eva Ryker ii. 15, I was patrolling Kapiolani Boulevard, piddling away the final moments of my ungodly long shift.
2. intr. To make water, urinate. colloq. or in childish use.
1796Grose's Dict. Vulg. T. (ed. 3), To Piddle, to make water: a childish expression. 1836Smart Walker's Dict. (ed. 3), Piddle,..this word is now scarcely used except as a child's word in the sense of to make water. 1931R. Campbell Georgiad ii. 21 Across the lawn they [sc. dogs] shank it on all fours, To argue, fight, and copulate, and piddle Around the sacred lamp-post in the middle. 1947M. Lowry Let. May (1967) 142 Meantime we have been here quietly piddling in our pants with suspense. 1974R. Adams Shardik xxv. 205, I have no idea what portents he employs—possibly the bear piddles on the floor and he observes portents in the steaming what-not. 1976Listener 15 July 55/3 To greet the crowd meeting him, he openly piddles on the platform.
fig.1814W. Scott Let. 10 Nov. (1932) III. 515 The last act is ill contrived. He piddles (so to speak) through a cullender, and divides the whole horrors of the catastrophe..into a kind of drippity-droppity of four or five scenes. 1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. iv. i. 232 Fountain jets..There grandly shooting upwards from the middle, While round the sides a thousand spirt and piddle. 1951H. Bennett We never called him Henry iii. 18 Mr. Ford..would tell me, ‘So-and-so was piddling in my ear’. That was a favourite expression of his.
▪ II. piddle, n. colloq.|ˈpɪd(ə)l|
[f. the vb.]
1. Urine; an act of urinating. Also fig.
1901in Farmer & Henley Slang V. 191/1. 1937 Partridge Dict. Slang 625/2 Piddle, urine; occ. the act of making water. 1959E. Burgess Divided we Fall x. 115 Take the poodle for its piddle. 1962M. Duffy That's how it Was xii. 105, I envied him his ability to tie his little soft winkle into a knot at the end and blow it out like a balloon with unshed piddle. 1972D. Bloodworth Any Number can Play x. 77 How could these red-haired brutes eat that filthy muck, not to mention the piddle and milk they called tea?
2. A trifle; nonsense.
1910R. Brooke Let. 2 Mar. (1968) 223 It's the alteration of the little words that makes all the difference between Poetry & piddle.
▪ III. piddle
variant of pightle. |