| 释义 |
▪ I. quiddle, n. dial. and U.S.|ˈkwɪd(ə)l|
[f. quiddle v.]
A fastidious person.
1856Emerson Eng. Traits vi. 108 The Englishman is very petulant and precise about his accommodation..a quiddle about his toast and his chop [etc.].
▪ II. quiddle, v. Now chiefly dial. and U.S.|ˈkwɪd(ə)l|
[Of obscure origin: cf. twiddle, fiddle.]
1. intr.
a. To discourse in a trifling way.
1567Edwards Damon & Pithias in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 81 Set out your bussing base, and we will quiddle upon it. 1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1275/2 Which name of the Marishes, Marshes, or Moores, if it like them to expound it, as I doubt not but manie will quiddle therevpon. 1863–70[see quiddling].
b. To trifle, waste time (with).
1832in Webster. a1877in J. Cook Orthodoxy iv. (1882) 81 Don't quiddle with the goody little notes to Gibbon by Milman and others.
†2. trans. To trifle or play with. Obs.
a1652Brome City Wit iii. i. Wks. 1873 I. 311 Cras. How does she feel your hand? Lin. O, she does so quiddle it, shake it, and gripe it!
Hence ˈquiddling vbl. n. and ppl. a. Also ˈquiddler, a trifler.
1832in Webster. 1860Emerson Cond. Life iv. (1861) 92 Neither will we be driven into a quiddling abstemiousness. 'Tis a superstition to insist on a special diet. 1863W. Phillips Speeches vii. 181 Lawyers, bound by quiddling technicalities. 1870H. Stevens Bibl. Histor. Introd. 14 He indulged in..bibliographical quiddling about the mechanical and manufacturing points of the books. |