▪ I. noddle, n.1
(ˈnɒd(ə)l)
Forms: 5–6 nodle, 5 -el, -ul(le, -yl(e; 6–7 nodell, 6 -il; 6 noddel (7 -ell), Sc. -ill; 6– noddle, 9 dial. nuddle.
[Of obscure origin. No similar form appears in any of the cognate languages.]
† 1. a. The back of the head. Obs.
| c 1425 St. Elizabeth of Spalbeck in Anglia VIII. 108/46 Sche smytes hir-selfe in þe nodel of the hede byhynde. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 357/2 Nodyl, or nodle of þe heed (or nolle), occiput. 1548 Vicary Anat. iii. (1888) 27 A bone of the hinder part of the head called the Noddel of the head. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 6 They rippe in sunder the noddle of his head. 1676 Hobbes Iliad 62 His strong sharp-pointed spear..lighting Behind upon the noddle of his head. |
b. The back of the neck. (Cf. 2 c.) Now dial.
| 1564 P. Moore Hope Health i. v. 9 Memorie is placed in the hindermost parte of the braine aboue the noddle of the necke. 1567 Golding Ovid's Met. (1593) v. 108 To Petales he lendeth such a souse Full in the noddle of the necke. 1590 P. Barrough Meth. Physick i. xxiv. (1639) 42 After that fasten cupping glasses to the noddle of the neck. 1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words s.v. Nuddle, Cut a lock of hair from the nuddle of the neck. 1889 Macm. Mag. Sept. 358 Last winter I suffered terrible with the misery in my head—just in the noddle o' the neck it fared to lay. |
2. absol. † a. The back of the head. Obs. b. The head or pate. (Colloq. or jocular.)
| c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 633 Hoc occipud, A⊇ nodulle. c 1450 M. E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 65 As ofte þou anoynte þyne heued in þe nodul be hynde wyþ hoot watur. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xliv. (Percy Soc.) 213 On his noddle darkely flamyng Was set Saturne..And Jupiter amiddes his foreheade. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 10 b, Imagination in the forheed: Reason in the braine: Remembrance in the nodell. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 91 His nodil in crossewise wresting downe droups to the growndward. 1607 Markham Caval. v. (1617) 21 From the noddle or crowne of his head downward vnto his mayne. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. 360 The late Queen of Spain took off one of her chapines and clowted Olivares about the noddle with it. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. i. 532 Quoth he, My Head's not made of brass As Friar Bacon's noddle was. 1713 Arbuthnot John Bull ii. v, If they offered to come into the warehouse, then strait went the yard slap over their noddle. 1755 J. Shebbeare Lydia (1769) II. 191 Master Doctor, having thatched his noddle with his enormous periwig,..sallied forth. 1825 Scott 16 May in Fam. Lett. (1894) II. xxi. 267 The fine bust he cut of my poor noddle three years ago. 1864 Thackeray D. Duval i, Many a smart rap with the rolling-pin have I had over my noddle. |
† c. The back of the neck. (Cf. 1 b.) Obs. rare.
| 1599 Breton Will of Wit 3, I suddenly stept to him, tooke him by the Noddle and turned him to my work. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 22 Cupping-glasses..are used..to set in the nodell, and on the upper part of the shoulder-blades. |
3. The head as the seat of the mind or thought. (Colloq., and usually with playful or contemptuous suggestion of dullness or emptiness.)
| 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 656/1 The diuell..putteth into their braines and foolishe noddles to make great shewes. 1594 Lyly Moth. Bomb. ii. i, Let me alone,..there's matter in this noddle. 1611 W. Baker Paneg. Verses in Coryat Crudities, Thy worke (which is the moddell Of most the wit enskonsed in thy noddell). 1654 Vilvain Theor. Theol. vii. 193 He frams a new Moon-calf-model of Heaven..after his own Pythagorean Noddle. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 178 ¶2 These Reflections..seize the Noddles of such as were not born to have Thoughts of their own. 1755 B. Martin Mag. Arts & Sci. 123 All the senseless Whimsies that have possessed the Noddles of the credulous Vulgar. 1793 Cowper Let. to W. Hayley 27 July, Laying his own noddle, and the carpenter's noddle together. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. i. Acc. New Play, Lady Arundel..Perplexes her noddle with no such nice queries. 1869 Trollope He knew, etc. xxxvi, Slatternly girls, with⁓out an idea inside their noddles! |
† b. By extension: A person. Obs. rare.
| 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. 43 John Calvin, a cunning Man, a great Scholar; and, above all, a reaching Noddle. 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) I. 148 If they can produce a set of Lancashire noddles, remote provincial head-pieces,..to attest a story of a witch upon a broomstick. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as † noddle-pate; † noddle-bone, the occipital bone; † noddle-case, a wig; † noddle-thatcher, a wig-maker.
| 1611 Cotgr., Os occipital, the *noddle bone. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 442 The fourth is called Os Occipitis the Noddle or Nowle-bone. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 271 The hind-head bone, or, the noddle-bone. |
| 1702 T. Brown Wks. (1760) II. 197 Next time you have occasion for a new *noddle-case,..I'll recommend you to the honestest perriwig-maker in Christendom. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 518 ¶9 A Pinch of right and fine Barcelona.., and a Noddle-case loaden with Pulvil. |
| 1622 Breton Strange News Wks. (Grosart) II. 11/1 Naturall capacities,..such as they were, and fitted the humour of his *noddle pate. |
| 1716–20 Lett. fr. Mist's Jrnl. (1722) I. 84 To deprive 20000 *Noddle-Thatchers of their Livelihood. |
▪ II. ˈnoddle, n.2 rare.
[f. noddle v.]
A nodding movement of the head.
| [1756 Fulke Greville Max., Charac. & Reflections 70 His head goes noddle noddle, like a Chinese figure.] 1765 Lady S. Lennox Life & Lett. (1901) I. 172 She has a noddle with her head that makes some people reckon her like me. |
▪ III. † ˈnoddle, v.1 Obs. rare.
[? f. noddle n.]
intr. and trans. To heat, pummel (? on the head).
| c 1440 York Myst. xxix. 369 Dose noddil on hym with neffes That he noght nappe. 1623 Webster Devil's Law-Case iii. iii, Some women..have long'd to beat their husbands; what if I..exercise my longing Upon my tailor that way, and noddle him soundly? |
▪ IV. noddle, v.2
(ˈnɒd(ə)l)
[A frequentative of nod v.: see -le, and cf. niddle-noddle.]
1. trans. To nod (the head) quickly or slightly.
| 1733–4 in Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. (1861) I. 428 Who should I see at Court last night, noddling her head, but Molly Winnington? 1772 Graves Spir. Quix. I. 222 She noddled her head, was saucy, and said rude things to one's face. 1822 T. L. Peacock Maid Marian xiii, Robin struck up and played away merrily, the bishop..noddling his head, and beating time with his foot. 1865 Routledge's Mag. for Boys Feb. 109 What a pretty horse yours is, Sir..; he noddles his head so cheerfully. |
b. To bring into (a state) by noddling; to beat (time) by nodding the head.
| 1788 A. Seward Lett. (1811) II. 90 The profession of this personage is music,..his height and proportion..well enough by nature, but fidgeted and noddled into an appearance not over prepossessing. 1887 J. Ashby-Sterry Lazy Minstrel (1892) 201, I sit..And noddle time with languid beat. |
2. intr. To nod or shake the head. (Now dial.)
| a 1734 North Lives (1826) I. 144 He walked splay, stooping and noddling. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 20 Like the Goose in the Fable, he will still waddle and noddle. 1753 J. Collier Art Tormenting 160 You must noddle, and laugh, and pretend to be very merry. |
Hence ˈnoddling ppl. a.
| 1790 J. Baillie Fugitive Verses (1840) 89 Up-hoisted arms and noddling head. |