▪ I. pudge1 dial. and colloq.
(pʌdʒ)
Also Sc. poodge (p{obar}dʒ, p{smY}dʒ).
[Origin obscure; app. to a certain extent identical with podge. Not known before 19th c. Connexion with Sc. pud belly, and with pud- in pudding has been conjectured; but the phonetic change would need explanation.]
A short thick-set or fat person or animal; anything short and thick.
| 1808 Jamieson, Pudge, any very small house, a hut, Perths. 1880 Ibid., Pudge [ed. 1825 Pudget], (1) a term applied to a short, thick set animal or person; also, to a person who feeds well; (2) anything short and stout, or small and confined, as a house, a hut. 1892 E. L. Wakeman in Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 28 July, The old town has always seemed to wish the glamor of immortality on its own account; for its wigged pudges of rulers, its wicked old slave traders. 1905 Daily Chron. 8 May 8/5 The tight shoe ages the face appallingly, the tight glove makes a shapeless ‘pudge’ of the hand. |
▪ II. pudge2 dial.
(pʌdʒ)
[? Connected with OE. pudd furrow, ? ditch (see puddle n.). Cf. Sw. puss puddle, plash.]
A puddle.
| 1820 Clare Rural Life (ed. 3) 31 While countless swarms of dancing gnats Each water pudge surround. 1821 ― Vill. Minstr. II. 32 He whisk'd o'er the water-pudge flirting and airy. 1847–78 Halliwell, Pudge, a ditch or grip. |
▪ III. pudge
var. padge, podge v.