| dandle Jun 26th 2013, 15:52 | | | | Line 2: | Line 2: | | | | | | | | ===Etymology=== | | ===Etymology=== | | − | Compare German {{term|dändeln||to trifle, dandle|lang=de}}, Old Dutch and Provincial German {{term|danten|lang=de}}, German {{term|tand||trifle, prattle|lang=de}}; Scots {{term|dandill||dander, to go about idly, to trifle}}. | + | Compare German {{term|dändeln||to trifle, dandle|lang=de}}, Old Dutch and Provincial German {{term|danten|lang=de}}, German {{term|Tand||trifle, prattle|lang=de}}; Scots {{term|dandill||dander, to go about idly, to trifle}}. | | | | | | | | ===Pronunciation=== | | ===Pronunciation=== |
Latest revision as of 15:52, 26 June 2013 English[edit] Etymology[edit] Compare German dändeln ("to trifle, dandle"), Old Dutch and Provincial German danten, German Tand ("trifle, prattle"); Scots dandill ("dander, to go about idly, to trifle"). Pronunciation[edit] - (UK) IPA: [ˈdændəl], [ˈdændəɫ]
dandle (third-person singular simple present dandles, present participle dandling, simple past and past participle dandled) - To move up and down on one's knee or in one's arms, in affectionate play, as an infant.
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- "you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees." - Isaiah 66:12 (NIV)
- To treat with fondness, as if a child; to fondle; to toy with; to pet.
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- [T]hey have put me in a silk night-gown and gaudy fool's cap, and make me now and then stand in the window with it. I am ashamed to be dandled thus, and cannot look in the glass without blushing to see myself turned into such a pretty little master. - Addison
- The book, thus dandled into popularity by bishops and good ladies, contained many pieces of nursery eloquence. - Jeffrey
- (obsolete) To play with; to put off or delay by trifles; to wheedle.
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- Captains do so dandle their doings, and dally in the service, as it they would not have the enemy subdued. - Edmund Spenser
Derived terms[edit] See also[edit] Translations[edit] To move up and down on one's knee or in one's arms, in affectionate play To treat with fondness, as if a child; to fondle Anagrams[edit] Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.  |  |
