▪ I. waddle, n.
(ˈwɒd(ə)l)
[f. waddle v.]
1. The action of waddling; a waddling gait. Also, rate of progress by waddling.
| 1691 Shadwell Scowrers ii. i. 15 That must be my sweet Duckling—I know her by her pretty Waddle in her Gate. 1853 Reade Chr. Johnstone ii. 38 A fisherman's natural waddle is two miles an hour. 1857 Kingsley Two Yrs. Ago xxv, The lighter woman's step was inaudible to Tom; but the heavy deliberate waddle of the banker was not. 1859 Todd's Cycl. Anat. V. 168/2 In the Natatores..the great intercotyloid distance gives to their gait its peculiar waddle. |
| fig. 1827 Hood Monkey-Martyr 50 Striding with a step that seem'd design'd To represent the mighty March of Mind, Instead of that slow waddle Of thought, to which our ancestors inclined. |
† 2. The wane of the moon. dial. Obs.
[Perh. a distinct word: cf. OHG., MHG. wadal, MLG. wadel (:—*waþlo-) phases or change of the moon.]
| 1678 Ray's Prov. (ed. 2) 343 Sow or set beans in Candlemas waddle, i.e. Wane of the Moon. Somerset. |
Add: Hence ˈwaddly a., that waddles; moving with a waddling gait.
| 1934 in Webster. 1970 A. Glyn Blood of Britishman xvii. 199 Like an endless squad of waddly soldiers. 1973 W. Soyinka Season of Anomy v. 69 A waddly figure stepped out in unbuttoned jacket. 1981 Sci. Amer. Dec. 29/2 There are scenes of a few birds, of the two parents bobbing and bowing in courtship, of many waddly penguins in their soaring submarine flight. |
▪ II. waddle, v.
(ˈwɒd(ə)l)
Forms: 5 wadill, 6–8 wadle, 7– waddle. Also quaddle, quoddle.
[freq. f. wade v.: see -le.]
† 1. intr. ? To fall heavily or as an inert mass.
| c 1400 Song of Roland 991 He rent hym vnredly euyn to the sadill: on ether sid of his horse doun did he wadill. |
2. To walk with short steps, swaying alternately from one leg to the other, as is done by a stout short-legged person.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iii. 37 Then she could stand alone, nay bi' th' roode she could haue runne & wadled all about. 1620 J. Taylor (Water P.) Jack a Lent B 1 b, Alwayes before Lent there comes wadling a fat grosse bursten⁓gutted groome, called Shroue-Tuesday. 1681 T. D['Urfey] Progr. Honesty xii. 13 Next a fat Author wadled into view. 1760–2 Goldsm. Cit. W. lxviii, This great man is short of stature, is fat, and waddles as he walks. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas ii. vii. ¶20 The old procuress waddled out of sight. c 1860 B. Harte Arctic Vision 1 Where the short-legged Esquimaux Waddle in the ice and snow. 1893 F. Espinasse Lit. Recoll. ii. 14 So fat that he waddled rather than walked. |
b. said of animals; esp. of ducks or geese.
| 1611 Cotgr., Caneter, to waddle, or goe, like a ducke. 1691 Lond. Gaz. No. 2686/4 She [a mare] wadles in her Trot. 1728–42 Pope Dunc. ii. 63 As when a dab-chick waddles through the copse On feet and wings. 1819 Crabbe Tales of Hall xiii. 516 And a fat spaniel waddled at his side. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xv, Ducks and geese..waddling awkwardly about the edges of the pond. 1845 J. Coulter Adv. in Pacific ix. 115, I caught sight of a huge seal waddling up out of the water. 1888 F. Hume Mme. Midas ii. i, The parrot..waddled clumsily across the table to the inkstand. |
c. transf. said of things.
| 1728 Pope Dunc. i. 172 Like bias to the bowl, Which, as more pond'rous, made its aim more true, Obliquely wadling to the mark in view. 1858 Straith's Fortif. & Artillery (ed. 7) ii. 121 The nave need not be more than 12 or 14 inches in length; if too short, the wheel would waddle (or, as it is sometimes called, wabble). |
† d. Stock Exchange slang. To become a ‘lame duck’ or defaulter (see duck n.1 9). In full, to waddle out. Obs.
| 1771 Garrick Prol. To Foote's Maid of B. 31 Change-Alley bankrupts waddle out lame ducks! 1799 in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. III. 72 A bear who pretends to sell what he is not possessed of, and is obliged frequently to waddle out at a great loss. 1814 Stock Exch. Laid Open 20 A Jobber was never known to waddle (to be a lame duck). 1823 ‘Jon Bee’ Dict. Turf, s.v., Jobbers, usually brokers, who cannot make good their engagements for the delivery of stock, or run short in funds to pay for what they have bought,..become lame ducks and waddle out. 1834 Marryat P. Simple lxv, He's been neither bull nor bear for these three years. He was obliged to waddle. |
† 3. trans. ? To cause to wallow in. Obs.
| 1569 Crowley Sophistrie Dr. Watson ii. 26 We, whom you would haue men thinke to be defiled with it, are cleare from it, and you your selfe most filthily wadled in it. |
4. Of animals: To trample or tread down (grass). Now dial.
| 1627 Drayton Moon-Calf Batt. Agincourt, etc. 183 They tread and waddle all the goodly grasse, That in the field there scarse a corner was Left free by them. |
† 5. ? To delude, befool. Obs.
| 1606 N. B[axter] Sydney's Ourania I 4, Browne Paper, Lute-strings, buckles for a Saddle, Perwigs, Tiffany, Paramours to waddle. |
▪ III. waddle
obs. and dial. f. wattle.