▪ I. faddle, v. Obs. exc. dial.
(ˈfæd(ə)l)
[Cf. fad v. and fondle, dandle, etc.]
1. trans. To make much of (a child), pet, caress.
| 1688 Miege Fr. Dict. 11 To faddle a Child, caresser un Enfant. 1721–1800 in Bailey. 1881 Evans Leicester Words 144 ‘His mother had use to faddle him a deal.’ |
2. intr. ‘To trifle; to toy; to play’ (J.).
| 1755 in Johnson. 1761 F. Sheridan Sidney Bidulph I. 204, I thought..to have faddled away a good while longer. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Faddle-after, to pay minute attention to a person, to be solicitous about—and complying with—fads..‘Bessy's a rar' place up at the owd 'all; nuthin 'ardly to do but faddle-after the Missis’. |
Hence ˈfaddler, one who faddles; ˈfaddling ppl. a., trifling, pettifogging.
| 1883 J. W. Sherer At Home & in Ind. 8 It [the garden] was divided into faddling beds. 1884 Pall Mall G. 30 Oct. 5/1 The critic who gratified Mr. Stevenson by calling him a ‘faddling hedonist’. 1888 Sat. Rev. 7 Jan. 19 It is to be hoped that it contains a much smaller percentage of faddlers. |
▪ II. faddle, n. dial. or colloq.
(ˈfæd(ə)l)
[f. prec. vb.]
1. Nonsense, trifling; usually fiddle-faddle.
| 1850 in Bamford Gloss. S. Lanc. 1892 Mrs. H. Ward David Grieve I. 26 Oh, is they? Then I spose books is faddle. |
2. (See quot.)
| 1881 Evans Leicester Words, Faddle sb., a fanciful person; either fastidious in trifles or devoted to some particular hobby. |