noddy

See also: Noddy

English

WOTD – 11 August 2025

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun sense 1 is possibly from nod (“to incline the head up and down; to gradually fall asleep”) +‎ -y (suffix forming diminutive nouns or familiar names); or a shortening of noddypoll, an obsolete alteration of hoddypoll (“fumbling, inept person”).[1]

The origin of noun sense 2 is uncertain; it is possibly derived from sense 1. Compare muggins (“fool, idiot; card game based on building in suits or matching exposed cards, the object being to get rid of one’s cards”).[2]

The origin of the adjective is uncertain; it is possibly also from nod (verb) +‎ -y (suffix meaning ‘of or relating to’ forming adjectives).[3]

The verb is derived from noun sense 1.[4]

Noun

noddy (countable and uncountable, plural noddies)

  2. (countable, archaic) A silly or stupid person; a fool, an idiot.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:idiot
  4. (card games, historical)
    1. (countable) In full knave noddy: the jack or knave playing card.
    2. (uncountable) In full noddy-fifteen: a certain card game related to cribbage.
      • [1589?], Cutbert Curry-knaue [pseudonym; Thomas Nashe], An Almond for a Parrat, or Cutbert Curry-knaues Almes. […], [London]: […] [Eliot’s Court Press], →OCLC, folio 18, verso:
        [W]ell let not me take you at Noddy anie more, leaſt I preſent you to the pariſh for a gamſter, this is the ninth ſet that you haue loſt, and yet you will not leaue off.
      • 1612 January 16 (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Love Restored, in a Masque at Court, […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, page 992:
        Let 'hem embrace more frugal pastimes. VVhy ſhould not the thriftie and right vvorſhipfull game of Poſt and payre content 'hem? Or the vvittie inuention of Noddie, for counters? or God make them rich, at the Tables? but Masking, and Reuelling?
      • a. 1634 (date written), John Day, “Peregrinatio Scholastica or Learneinges Pillgrimage […]. The Twentithe Tractate.”, in A[rthur] H[enry] Bullen, editor, The Works of John Day […], London: […] Chiswick Press […], published 1881, →OCLC, page 77:
        [H]e told me he had him at command when he was a page, but by plaieing to [too] much at primeroe and noddy he loſt Time and his monie to [too].
      • 1847, James Orchard Halliwell, “NODDY”, in A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the Fourteenth Century. […], volume II (J–Z), London: John Russell Smith, […], →OCLC, page 579:
        An old game of cards, conjectured to be the same as cribbage. […] Noddy is now played as follows: Any number can play—the cards are all dealt out—the elder hand plays one, (of which he hath a pair or a prial if a good player)—saying or singing "there's a good card for thee," passing it to his right hand neighbour—the person next in succession who holds its pair covers it, saying "there's still a better than he;" and passes both onward—the person holding the third of the sort (ace, six, queen, or what not) puts it on with "there's the best of all three:" and the holder of the fourth crowns all with the emphatic—"And there is Niddy-Noddeee."—He wins the tack, turns it down, and begins again. He who is first out receives from his adversaries a fish (or a bean, as the case may be) for each unplayed card.
      2. (by extension, slang, obsolete) Synonym of sexual intercourse.
Derived terms
  • hoddy-noddy (rare)
  • niddy-noddy
  • nod (“silly or stupid person”) (obsolete, rare)
  • noddify (obsolete)
  • noddypoop (obsolete, rare)
  • noddyship (obsolete)
  • poop-noddy (rare)
  • supernodical (obsolete)
  • supernodify (obsolete, rare)
Translations

Adjective

noddy (comparative more noddy, superlative most noddy)

  1. (England, regional) Foolish, silly, stupid.
Translations

Verb

noddy (third-person singular simple present noddies, present participle noddying, simple past and past participle noddied)

  1. (transitive, obsolete, rare) Synonym of noddify (“to make (someone) into a noddy (noun sense 1), to make a fool of”)
    • 1600, N[icholas] B[reton], Pasquils Fooles-cap Sent to Such (to Keepe Their Weake Braines Warme) as are Not Able to Conceiue Aright of His Mad-cap. […], London: […] [Richard Bradock], for Thomas Iohnes, […], →OCLC, signature D2, verso:
      If ſuch an Aſſe be noddied for the nonce, / I ſay but this, to helpe his Idle fit; / Let him but thanke himſelfe for lacke of VVit, […]

Etymology 2

From nod (“to incline the head up and down; to gradually fall asleep”) +‎ -y (suffix forming diminutive nouns or familiar names; and meaning ‘of or relating to’ forming adjectives).[1][5][6][7][8]

Noun sense 1 (“tern of the genus Anous”) possibly refers to the nodding behaviour of the birds during courtship.[1] Sense 3 (“fellatio”) refers to the nodding motion of the head of a person performing the sex act. Sense 5 (“cutaway scene of a television interviewer nodding”) was coined by the English cultural theorist and media scholar John Fiske (1939–2021) in 1987. Sense 6.2 (“state of being asleep”) is possibly a pun on etymology 1, sense 2.2.1 (“sexual intercourse”).[5]

Noun

noddy (plural noddies)

  2. Any of several stout-bodied, gregarious terns of the genus Anous found in tropical seas, especially the brown noddy or common noddy (Anous stolidus).
    • 1703, William Dampier, chapter III, in A Voyage to New Holland, &c. in the Year 1699. […]. Vol. III, London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 142:
      VVe savv no Land this Day, but ſavv a great many Snakes and ſome VVhales. VVe ſavv alſo ſome Boobies, and Noddy-birds; and in the Night caught one of theſe laſt. […] The Top or Crovvn of the Head of this Noddy was Coal-black, having alſo ſmall black Streaks round about and cloſe to the Eyes; and round theſe Streaks on each ſide, a pretty broad vvhite Circle. The Breaſt, Belly, and under part of the VVings of this Noddy vvere vvhite: And the Back and upper part of its VVings of a faint black or ſmoak Colour.
    • 1724, Charles Johnson [pseudonym], “A Description of the Islands of St. Thome, Del Principe, and Annobono”, in A General History of the Pyrates, […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for, and sold by T. Warner, […], →OCLC, page 195:
      The Rocks and outer Lines of the Iſland, are the Haunts of variety of Sea-Birds, eſpecially Boobies and Noddies; […] The Noddies are ſmaller and flat footed alſo.
    • 1792, William Bligh, chapter XV, in A Voyage to the South Sea, […] in His Majesty’s Ship The Bounty, […], London: […] George Nicol, […], →OCLC, page 194:
      At noon ſome noddies came ſo near to us, that one of them was caught by hand. This bird was about the ſize of a ſmall pigeon. I divided it, vvith its entrails, into 18 portions, and by a vvell-knovvn method at ſea, of, VVho ſhall have this? it vvas diſtributed, vvith the allovvance of bread and vvater for dinner, and eat up bones and all, vvith ſalt vvater for ſauce.
    • 1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto II, stanza LXXXII, page 160:
      At length they caught two boobies, and a noddy, / And then they left off eating the dead body.
    • 1839, Charles Darwin, chapter I, in Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 9:
      We only observed two kinds of birds [on Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago]—the booby and the noddy. The former is a species of gannet, and the latter a tern. Both are of a tame and stupid disposition, and are so unaccustomed to visiters,[sic – meaning visitors] that I could have killed any number of them with my geological hammer.
    • 1934 November, Charles Nordhoff, James Norman Hall, chapter I, in Pitcairn’s Island, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 11:
      A cloud of sea birds hovered overhead, the gannets diving with folded wings, while the black noddy-terns fluttered down in companies each time the fish drove the small fry to the surface.
  3. (Ireland, Scotland, road transport, historical) A small two-wheeled carriage drawn by a single horse.
    • 1761 (first performance), Charles Macklin, The True-born Irishman; or, Irish Fine Lady. A Comedy of Two Acts, Dublin: Sold by the booksellers, published 1783, →OCLC, Act I, page 8:
      [S]he has brought over a nevv language vvith her. […] VVhy a new kind of a London Engliſh, that's no more like our Iriſh Engliſh, than a coxcomb's fine gilded chariot like a Glaſſmanogue [i.e., Phibsborough, Dublin] noddy.
    • 1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “How a Squire Was Found for the Knight of the Rueful Countenance”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume I, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, pages 92–93:
      "By Jove, I think one of us must go into town. […]" / "Let's see Nutter—you or I must go—we'll take one of these songster's "noddies."["] [A "noddy," give me leave to remark, was the one-horse hack vehicle of Dublin and the country round, which has since given place to the jaunting car, which is, in turn, half superseded by the cab.]
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 10: Wandering Rocks]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], pages 230–231:
      Down there Emmet was hanged, drawn and quartered. Greasy black rope. Dogs licking the blood off the street when the lord lieutenant's wife drove by in her noddy.
  5. (MLE, slang) Synonym of fellatio.
    • 2024 January 14, “Aint a Joke”, Bobby Shmurda [pseudonym; Ackquille Jean Pollard], Dontplay [pseudonym] (lyrics), [United Kingdom]: Y2O Records, 1:39 from the start:
      Bakin' off of this light skin hottie / Sweet ting, arch ya up and give noddy
  6. (Newfoundland, Northeastern US) Synonym of northern fulmar (“an Arctic seabird, Fulmarus glacialis”).
  8. (UK, television, informal) A cutaway scene of a television interviewer nodding at the person being interviewed (or sometimes the interviewee nodding at the interviewer), often used to cover an editing gap in an interview.
    Synonyms: nodder, noddy headshot, noddy-shot, nod shot
    Noddies are often filmed after the interview in question has finished.
  9. (obsolete)
    1. In clockmaking and watchmaking: an inverted pendulum consisting of a short, vertical, flat spring which supports a rod having a bob at the top, which is used for detecting and measuring slight horizontal vibrations of a body to which it is attached.
      • 1841 April 19 (date delivered), James D[avid] Forbes, “XIII.—On the Theory and Construction of a Seismometer, or Instrument for Measuring Earthquake Shocks, and Other Concussions.”, in Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, volume XV, part I, Edinburgh: Robert Grant & Son, […]; London: T[homas] Cadell, […], published 1844, →OCLC, pages 219–220:
        The elegant inverted Pendulum or Noddy contrived by the late Mr Hardy, suggested to me a different arrangement. […] It is evident that, by adjusting the stiffness of the wire, or the height of the ball C, we may alter to any extent the relation of the forces of Elasticity and of Gravity, and consequently render the equilibrium of the machine in a vertical position stable, indifferent, or unstable.
    3. (rare) In at noddy: a state of being asleep.
      • 1665, Richard Head, “How He Frequented Bawdy-houses; what Exploits He Committed in Them; the Character of a Bawd, a Whore, a Pimp, and a Trapan; Their Manner of Living; with a Detection of Their Wicked Lives and Conversations”, in The English Rogue Described, in the Life of Meriton Latroon, a Witty Extravagant. […], London: […] Francis Kirkman, and are to be sold by him and Thomas Dring the younger, […], published 1668, →OCLC, page 110:
        In Paternoſter-rovv, vve found a fellovv at nodie upon a ſtall, vvith his Lanthorn and Candle by him, having firſt ſeized on that, and throvvn it into the Kennel, vve proſecuted our abuſe by falling upon him, and beating him. […] [T]o our coſt, vve found him as nimble and as light footed as a Stag, vvho overtaking us, ſurprized us; and as he vvas carrying us before the Conſtable, vve met vvith the grand Round, vvho, vvithout as much examination, committed us as Rates to the Counter.
Hyponyms
terns
Translations

Adjective

noddy (comparative more noddy, superlative most noddy)

  1. (archaic) Drowsy, sleepy.
Translations

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “noddy, n.1”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2025; “noddy1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “noddy, n.2”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2025.
  3. ^ “noddy, adj.1”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2023.
  4. ^ “† noddy, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 “† noddy, n.3”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  6. ^ “noddy, n.4”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2023.
  7. ^ “noddy, n.6”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  8. ^ “noddy, adj.2”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.

Further reading

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