"quiddle" meaning in English

See quiddle in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˈkwɪdəl/ Forms: quiddles [present, singular, third-person], quiddling [participle, present], quiddled [participle, past], quiddled [past]
Rhymes: -ɪdəl Etymology: From Latin quid (“what”). Cognate with Dutch kwedelen. Etymology templates: {{uder|en|la|-}} Latin, {{lena}}, {{cog|nl|kwedelen}} Dutch kwedelen Head templates: {{en-verb}} quiddle (third-person singular simple present quiddles, present participle quiddling, simple past and past participle quiddled)
  1. (intransitive, rare) To talk nonsense or speak vaguely, to waffle Tags: intransitive, rare
    Sense id: en-quiddle-en-verb-4rw-XdmC
  2. (intransitive, rare) To spend or waste time in trifling employments, or to attend to useful subjects in a trifling superficial manner. Tags: intransitive, rare
    Sense id: en-quiddle-en-verb-chbKkKS0 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English undefined derivations, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 10 90 Disambiguation of English undefined derivations: 22 78 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 10 90 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 7 93

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin",
      "name": "uder"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "lena"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "kwedelen"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch kwedelen",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Latin quid (“what”). Cognate with Dutch kwedelen.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "quiddles",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "quiddling",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "quiddled",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "quiddled",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "quiddle (third-person singular simple present quiddles, present participle quiddling, simple past and past participle quiddled)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              17,
              26
            ]
          ],
          "text": "He couldn't stop quiddling about the weather.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To talk nonsense or speak vaguely, to waffle"
      ],
      "id": "en-quiddle-en-verb-4rw-XdmC",
      "links": [
        [
          "talk",
          "talk"
        ],
        [
          "nonsense",
          "nonsense"
        ],
        [
          "vaguely",
          "vaguely"
        ],
        [
          "waffle",
          "waffle"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, rare) To talk nonsense or speak vaguely, to waffle"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "rare"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "10 90",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "22 78",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English undefined derivations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "10 90",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "7 93",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To spend or waste time in trifling employments, or to attend to useful subjects in a trifling superficial manner."
      ],
      "id": "en-quiddle-en-verb-chbKkKS0",
      "links": [
        [
          "spend",
          "spend time"
        ],
        [
          "waste time",
          "waste time"
        ],
        [
          "trifling",
          "trifling"
        ],
        [
          "employment",
          "employment"
        ],
        [
          "attend",
          "attend"
        ],
        [
          "superficial",
          "superficial"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, rare) To spend or waste time in trifling employments, or to attend to useful subjects in a trifling superficial manner."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "rare"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkwɪdəl/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪdəl"
    }
  ],
  "word": "quiddle"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English terms derived from Latin",
    "English undefined derivations",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Requests for attention in Latin etymologies",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪdəl",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪdəl/2 syllables"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin",
      "name": "uder"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "lena"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "kwedelen"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch kwedelen",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Latin quid (“what”). Cognate with Dutch kwedelen.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "quiddles",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "quiddling",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "quiddled",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "quiddled",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "quiddle (third-person singular simple present quiddles, present participle quiddling, simple past and past participle quiddled)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with rare senses",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              17,
              26
            ]
          ],
          "text": "He couldn't stop quiddling about the weather.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To talk nonsense or speak vaguely, to waffle"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "talk",
          "talk"
        ],
        [
          "nonsense",
          "nonsense"
        ],
        [
          "vaguely",
          "vaguely"
        ],
        [
          "waffle",
          "waffle"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, rare) To talk nonsense or speak vaguely, to waffle"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "rare"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with rare senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To spend or waste time in trifling employments, or to attend to useful subjects in a trifling superficial manner."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "spend",
          "spend time"
        ],
        [
          "waste time",
          "waste time"
        ],
        [
          "trifling",
          "trifling"
        ],
        [
          "employment",
          "employment"
        ],
        [
          "attend",
          "attend"
        ],
        [
          "superficial",
          "superficial"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, rare) To spend or waste time in trifling employments, or to attend to useful subjects in a trifling superficial manner."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "rare"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkwɪdəl/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪdəl"
    }
  ],
  "word": "quiddle"
}

Download raw JSONL data for quiddle meaning in English (2.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-07-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-07-01 using wiktextract (45c4a21 and f1c2b61). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.