1534 J. Heywood Play of Loue sig. Ciii Why where the deuyll is this horeson nody.

?1550 J. Bale Apol. agaynste Papyst 30 b O beastly nody wythoute brayne.

1580 T. Lupton Siuqila 14 Mighte not he bee counted a verye noddy, that woulde pay suche a fine for a Farme?

1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy i. ii. iv. iv. 197 He made soft fellowes starke noddies, and such as were foolish.

1648 T. Gage Eng.-Amer. 101 In his carriage and experience in the World a simple noddy.

1682 N. O. tr. N. Boileau-Despréaux Lutrin iii. 94 And there they sneaking stand like baffled Noddies.

?1706 E. Hickeringill Priest-craft: 2nd Pt. iii. 36 The cringing old Noddies and Cathedral-Men, that adore unlighted Candles at the Altar.

1794 J. Wolcot Sun & Peacock in Wks. (1812) III. 265 To credit such a tale I'm not the noddy.

1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby vii. 63 To think that I should be such a noddy!

1871 B. Taylor tr. J. W. von Goethe Faust I. xxii. 240 A gray and wrinkled noddy.

1912 N. Duncan Best of Bad Job 144 Have done, ye noddie!

1985 K. Howarth Sounds Gradely Noddy, a fool–an April noddy. Mawdesley, Liverpool.

1611 ‘G. Vadianus’ in T. Coryate Crudities sig. l^v Noddie turn'd vp, all made, yet lose the tricke.

1680 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 76 If you have a knave of that suit which is turned up, it is knave Noddy.

1757 S. Foote Author ii. 27 You want four, and I two, and my Deal: Now, Knave noddy—no, Hearts be Trumps.

1798 Anti-Jacobin 11 June 244/1 Your kings are but noddies to them... A Noddy, the reader will observe, has two significations—the one, a Knave at All-fours; the other a Fool, or Booby.

1842 J. D. Phelps Collectanea Glocestrensia (Glouc. Gloss.) Noddy, the knave at cards.

1990 D. Parlett Oxf. Guide Card Games x. 131 Noddy..in various card games..applied particularly to the Jack of the suit turned for trumps, or ‘Knave Noddy’.

1667 R. Head & F. Kirkman Eng. Rogue (rev. ed.) I. i. ix. 94 In Paternoster-row, we found a fellow at nodie upon a stall, with his Lanthorne and Candle by him.

?1764 J. Bush Hibernia Curiosa 23 They have an odd kind of hacknies here, that is called the Noddy.

1776 R. Twiss Tour Ireland 28 There are many single-horse two wheeled chaises, which constantly ply in the streets in Dublin; they are called noddies.

1825 J. Weddell Voy. S. Pole 220 A conveyance was provided such as by us is called a noddy, having but two wheels and being drawn by two horses abreast, on one of which rode the driver.

1844 W. H. Maxwell Wanderings in Highlands & Islands I. ii. 54 A vehicle, which in Scotland..is called a ‘noddy’.

1889 J. Tait Two Cent. Border Church Life 288 The noddy was a rather cumbrous looking box set on two wheels, entered by a door in the rear, and with a seat for the driver in front.

1920 Kelso Chron. 16 July 2 A small phaeton—known in the countryside as a ‘noddy’—drawn by a single pony.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. x. [Wandering Rocks] 231 Dogs licking the blood off the street when the lord lieutenant's wife drove by in her noddy.

1844 Trans. Royal Soc. Edinb. 15 219 The elegant inverted Pendulum or Noddy contrived by the late Mr. Hardy.

1846 Trans. Royal Irish Acad. 21 i. 107 They [sc. instruments] have been upon the principle of the inverted pendulum or watchmaker's noddy.

1964 in C. Hamblett & J. Deverson Generation X 162 We got down the road and a Lawman came up on a Noddy bike (Vesper [sic]).

1970 P. Laurie Scotl. Yard 292 Noddy, the lightweight silent motorcycle issued to beat men in the suburbs, so called because their riders cannot safely salute. When they were new, a legendary old sergeant, aggrieved at this lack of respect, growled: ‘Well then boy, when you see me, nod your head.’

1990 Guardian (Nexis) 15 Dec. Remember those grey, angular ‘Noddy bikes’ that bimbled British policemen round suburban streets? Made by Velocette in the 1950s and called the LE they were almost silent.

1843 W. White Jrnl. (1898) 44 The noddy-drivers were equally noisy..in making their wants known.

a1966 M. Bell High St., Southampton in Coll. Poems 1937–66 (1967) 50 Neat toy-town blocks of boxes, Noddy shops with plastics wrapped in cellophane for sale.

1973 Times 16 Feb. 25/3 Ignorance further encourages governments, newspapers and public itself to laugh off hairdressing as a noddyland where the teazy-weazies wave and blow.

1982 Economist 6 Mar. 85/1 Architects worry about the British retreating to energy-efficient Noddy houses: bricky dwellings with dormer windows and fancy roofs.

1993 E. S. Raymond New Hacker's Dict. (ed. 2) 302 Noddy programs are often written by people learning a new language or system. The archetypal noddy program is hello, world. Noddy code may be used to demonstrate a feature or bug of a compiler.

1999 Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) (Nexis) 31 Dec. 22 If they think they'll get that sort of atmosphere at the stadium, they're in Noddyland.

2001 Estates Gaz. 30 June 153/3 While not designed to be the last word, it is no ‘noddy’ guide to the law.

1982 Observer 12 Dec. 26/1 Those shots of the interviewer agreeing with the interviewee (which as everyone knows are filmed after the interview) are called ‘noddies’.

1985 D. May in D. J. Enright Fair of Speech 132 These [shots] are known as ‘noddies’, a word delightful both for its nursery air and for its sharp observation of the sage nods that participants in television discussions are inclined to give if they think the cameras are on them.

1995 G. Linehan & A. Matthews Good Luck, Father Ted (penultimate draft) in Father Ted (1999) 17/2 I must try and track down this film unit. They'll probably want to do a few close-ups and mastershots and noddys and all that with me.

2000 Scotsman 1 Apr. 15 Happily..these days it's rare to see another so-called ‘editing’ shot–the noddy.

a1529 J. Skelton Colyn Cloute (?1545) sig. D.vi That no man shulde se Nor rede in any scrolles Of theyr dronken nolles Nor of theyr noddy polles.]

1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. 49 Ignorant idiots, noddy Nabalites.

1648 Brit. Bell-man 6 You present us with an inane nihil, a new Directory of a noddy Synod.

1971 H. Orton & P. M. Tilling Surv. Eng. Dial. III. iii. 1182 Q[uestion]. A man who is always doing ridiculous things and behaving stupidly, you say is quite... [Essex] Noddy.

1801 Port Folio 11 Apr. 120/2 While some..with smacking lip, Hang o'er their jorum of hot flip, And suck it till they're noddy.

1848 A. B. Evans Leicestershire Words at Noddy You're getting quite noddy, my dear.

a1864 N. Hawthorne Septimius Felton (1872) 181 I'll..try to go to sleep. I feel very noddy all at once.

1987 Truck & Driver July 73/3 When you're feeling a bit noddy..there are just not enough facilities to pull up and have a walk round and freshen up.

1600 N. Breton Pasquils Fooles-cap (rev. ed.) sig. D2^v If such an Asse be noddied for the nonce,..Let him but thanke himselfe for lacke of Wit.