huddle
/ˈhʌdəl/
huddle noun: a small group of individuals in very close proximity to one another.
Noun
huddle (plural huddles)
- A small group of individuals in very close proximity to one another.
- It’s about as riveting as listening to a huddle of ents discuss the finer points of deciduous shedding.2023 May 25, Nic Reuben, “The Lord of the Rings: Gollum review”, in The Guardian
- A session in which a group of journalists assemble in an informal, dense cluster to question a person of interest.
- The post-PMQs huddle takes place just outside the press gallery, and all the journalists swarm first around the Prime Minister's press team[…]2018, Ayesha Hazarika, Tom Hamilton, Punch and Judy Politics: An Insiders' Guide to Prime Minister's Questions
- A brief meeting of all the players from one team that are on the field with the purpose of planning the following play.
- A hesitation during play to think about one's next move.
- A dense and disorderly crowd.
Verb
huddle (third-person singular simple present huddles, present participle huddling, simple past and past participle huddled)
- To crowd together.
- The sheep huddled together seeking warmth.
- During all these operations the apes who had entered sat huddled near the door watching their chief, while those outside strained and crowded to catch a glimpse of what transpired within.1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 4, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert]...
- To curl one's legs up to the chest and keep one's arms close to the torso; to crouch; to assume a position similar to that of an embryo in the womb.
- Just south of Wamphray station they overtook the runaway. The dim figure of Mitchell could be seen sitting huddled behind the stormboard. They shouted and whistled. He paid no attention.1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 54
- To get together and discuss a topic.
- George Hirsch, chairman of the board of Road Runners, said officials huddled all day Friday, hoping to devise an alternate race. They considered replacing the marathon with a race that would comprise the final 10 miles of marathon, starting at the base of the Queensboro 59th Street Bridge on the...2012 November 2, Ken Belson, New York Times, retrieved 02 Nov 2012
- To form a huddle.
- To crowd (things) together; to mingle confusedly; to assemble without order or system.
- Our adversary, huddling several suppositions together,[…]makes a medley and confusion.1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC
- To do, make, or put, in haste or roughly; hence, to do imperfectly; usually with a following preposition or adverb (huddle on, huddle up, huddle together).
- Huddle up a peace.1845, John Henry Newman, Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine
- Let him forecast his work with timely care, / Which else is huddled when the skies are fair.1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- To hesitate during play while thinking about one's next move.
Adjective
huddle (not comparable)
- Huddled, confused, congested.
- There was in Sicilie a certaine fisherman who resembled in all points Sura the pro-consull, not onely in visage and feature of the face, but also in mowing with his mouth when he spake, in drawing his tongue short, and in his huddle and thicke speech.1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book VII.] XII. Examples of many that have been very like and resembled one another.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the...
- The evangelists are easily distinguished from the rest, by a passionate zeal and love which the painter has thrown in their faces; the huddle group of those who stand most distant, are admirable representations of men abashed with their late unbelief and hardness of heart.1713, Richard Steele, The Guardian, number 21
Proper noun capitalized: Huddle
Huddle
- A surname originating as a patronymic.
huddle meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
huddle in Tamil
- திரள், குவித்துவை, குழுமுதல், குவியற் கூளம்
huddle in Urdu
- huddle, decline, irregularity
- ابتری abtarī
huddle in Bengali
- জড়সড় হওয়া, ভিড় করা, সংগোপনে আলোচনা করা
huddle in Malayalam
- വലിച്ചുവാരിക്കൂട്ടുക, തിക്കുംതിരക്കുമാകുക, ചുരുണ്ടുകൂടിയിരിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- huddle in Kannada
- ರಾಶಿ, ಗುಡ್ಡೆ, ಒಟ್ಟು, ಒಡ್ಡು
Examples of huddle in a sentence
- George Hirsch, chairman of the board of Road Runners, said officials huddled all day Friday, hoping to devise an alternate race.2012 November 2, Ken Belson, New York Times, retrieved 02 Nov 2012:
- Now, in all haste, they huddle on / Their hoods, their cloaks, and get them gone.1728, Jonathan Swift, The Journal of a Modern Lady:
- This resolution she accordingly executed; and the next morning before the sun, she huddled on her cloaths, and at a very unfashionable, unseasonable, unvisitable hour, went to Lady Bellaston […]1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling:
- Gowan snored, each respiration choking to a huddle fall as though he would never breathe again.1911, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Library of America, published 1985, page 51:
Forms of huddle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | huddles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | huddles |
| present participle | huddling |
| past participle | huddled |
| past | huddled |
Origin of huddle
From Middle English *hudelen, alteration (due to hudels, hidels (“hiding place”), see hiddle) of *huderen, hoderen (“to cover; press together; huddle”), a frequentative form of Middle English huden, hiden (“to hide”), equivalent to hide + -le and/or hide + -er. Compare Low German huderken (“to brood; coddle; nurse; lull children to sleep”).
Variant of Hudd.
Words formed from huddle
Phrases with huddle
Words that rhyme with huddle
Questions about huddle
- What does huddle mean?
- Huddle means a small group of individuals in very close proximity to one another.
- What is huddle in Tamil?
- Huddle in Tamil is திரள், குவித்துவை, குழுமுதல். See Huddle meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use huddle in a sentence?
- George Hirsch, chairman of the board of Road Runners, said officials huddled all day Friday, hoping to devise an alternate race.
- What part of speech is huddle?
- Huddle can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce huddle?
- Huddle is pronounced /ˈhʌdəl/.
- What is the plural of huddle?
- The plural of huddle is huddles.
Words near huddle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: huddle (page history and authors); Huddle (page history and authors); huddle (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ابتری (Urdu) (page history and authors); Huddle (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); huddle (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); huddle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-huddle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “huddle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/huddle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.