noddle
/ˈnɒdəl/US/ˈnɑd l/
noddle noun: the head; the part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth and main sense organs. Also the alternative form of noodle.
Noun
noddle (plural noddles)
- The head; the part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth and main sense organs.
- But being restored to the open aire, the cafe with him was little altred; for no roofe had he to hide his noddle in, or whither he might go to set up his rest, but in the streets under a bulk he should have been constrainted to have kenneld […]1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with...
- The head as the seat of mental capacity or intellect.
- No doubt (said the Barber) but I wonder not so much at the Knights madnesse, as the Squires simplicity, that beleeves so in the Islands, and I think all the Art in the world will not drive that out of his noddle.1612–1620, [Miguel de Cervantes], translated by Thomas Shelton, The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] William Stansby, for Ed[ward] Blount...
- Thus far the Poet; but his brains grow Addle, / And all the reſt is purely from this Noddle.1690, [John] Dryden, “Prologue to Don Sebastian King of Portugal. […]”, in Don Sebastian, King of Portugal: […], London: […] Jo. Hindmarsh, […], →OCLC, (please specify |act=I or II), page 20
- The back of the head; nape.
- They muste absteine from ouer much slepe, and not to slepe in the day time, nor [upon] the noddle of the head […]1562, Guglielmo Gratarolo, translated by William Fulwood, The Castel of Memorie, volume I
Verb
noddle (third-person singular simple present noddles, present participle noddling, simple past and past participle noddled)
- To nod repeatedly.
Also used as
noddle is also the alternative form of noodle.
Examples of noddle in a sentence
- Novv vvhat can have got into that precious noddle of thine, my dear brother Toby? cried my father, mentally.1762, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XXXVII, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume V, London: […] T. Becket and P. A....
- Shell after shell did they empty, and to Jack's exceeding surprise, he found the drink never got into his head, owing, I suppose, to the sea being over them, which kept their noddles cool.1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 532:
Forms of noddle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | noddles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | noddles |
| present participle | noddling |
| past participle | noddled |
| past | noddled |
Words formed from noddle
Questions about noddle
- What does noddle mean?
- Noddle means the head; the part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth and main sense organs.
- How do you use noddle in a sentence?
- Novv vvhat can have got into that precious noddle of thine, my dear brother Toby? cried my father, mentally.
- What part of speech is noddle?
- Noddle can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce noddle?
- Noddle is pronounced /ˈnɒdəl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of noddle?
- The plural of noddle is noddles.
Words near noddle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: noddle (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-noddle.wav.
Cite this entry: “noddle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/noddle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.