waddle
/ˈwɒd(ə)l
/verb [no object, with adverbial of direction]
Walk with short steps and a clumsy swaying motion: three geese waddled across the road...
- She was nearly as wide as she was tall, and waddled like a duck when she walked.
- Laughing, he opened the door and lumbered up to her, the shorter man waddling behind him.
- Perhaps because they can only waddle from their TV sofa to their car and back again.
Synonyms
toddle, dodder, wobble, totter, shamble;
sway, rock, lurch, limp, shuffle, stumble, reel, stagger;
duckwalk, walk like a duck
informal waggle
noun [in singular]
A waddling gait: I walk with a waddle...
- After a moment, the turtle creeps out of its shell and resumes its waddle across the highway.
- He walked, well I'd like to say walked but it was more of a waddle, to the door and turned the shiny brass doorknob.
- Perhaps Krishnan senior's ponderous waddle on the court could be excused.
Derivatives
waddler
- There's no use darting over to the opposite side of the aisle because some other waddler is lumbering along from the opposite direction.
- And he's not through yet - according to the one-time waddler, he won't be satisfied until he's bare-chested and grinning on the cover of this magazine.
- While our waddlers, such as skunks, porcupines, raccoons and bears, often are not seen in the dead of winter, you may find their tracks after a late spring snow.
Origin
Late 16th century: perhaps a frequentative of wade.