nid-noddingn.
/ˈnɪdnɒdɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈnɪdˌnɑdɪŋ/ The action of nid-nod v.; repeated nodding.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > alternating or reciprocating motion > [noun] > nodding the head > repeated nodding
nid-nodding1877
1877 Littell's Living Age 19 May 399 Such nid-nodding..such demonstration of fists and such cursing among the men, had never before been seen and heard in Scaurnose.
1896 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 490/2 The nid-nodding of the red rose.
1983 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 5 Oct. 23 Young Acton had the courage to stir up the fierce Waugh by complaining that his first novel contained too much ‘nid-nodding’.
1992 Sunday Times (Nexis) 26 July To read Lewis's compilation, with its nid-nodding over the filing cabinets and its cloakroom badinage, you could be forgiven for thinking that the conditions of office life have scarcely changed.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
nid-noddingadj.
/ˈnɪdnɒdɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈnɪdˌnɑdɪŋ/ That nods repeatedly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > alternating or reciprocating motion > [adjective] > nodding > repeatedly
nid-nodding1824
nid-nod1921
1824 S. E. Ferrier Inheritance lxxix That odd, little, nid-nodding face.
1833 T. Hood China Mender 11 Great nid-noddin' mandarins, with palsies in the head.
1871 Scribner's Monthly Aug. 437 The passers-by catch glimpses of animated faces and nid-nodding bonnets.
a1978 M. Bell Fiesta Mask in Compl. Poems (1988) Here comes a great, big, daft, nid-nodding head—A painted acre of face, a carnival grin, With snouting nostrils, glistening carbuncles.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1877adj.1824