piddle
UK/ˈpɪd.l̩/US/ˈpɪdəl/
piddle noun: piss: urine.
Noun
piddle (plural piddles)
- Piss: urine.
- The spunk with his piddle comes bubbling.1870, Cythera's Hymnal, page 77
- Synonyms:
- widdle
- A piss: an act of urination.
- Piddle, urine; occ. the act of making water.1937, Eric Honeywood Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, page 625
- On the way out to the gardens, he had to stop for a piddle but was so weak he couldn't maintain his balance while lifting his rear leg.2013, Angela Lemanis, Contemplating Life from the Back Step, page 84
- Synonyms:
- widdle
- Nonsense or a trivial matter.
- It's the alteration of the little words that makes all the difference between Poetry & piddle.1910 March 2, Rupert Brooke, letter
Verb
piddle (third-person singular simple present piddles, present participle piddling, simple past and past participle piddled)
- (Often followed by about or around): to act or work ineffectually and wastefully.
- […] neuer ceaſinge piddeling about theyr bowe and ſhaftes, when they be well, […]1544 (date written; published 1571), Roger Ascham, Toxophilus, the Schole, or Partitions, of Shooting. […], London: […] Thomas Marshe, →OCLC; republished in The English Works of Roger Ascham, […]...
- I watch Dag and Claire piddle about the desert[.]1991, Douglas Coupland, “I Am Not a Target Market”, in Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, →OCLC, page 17
- Synonym of peck: to attack or eat with a beak.
- As [Mahomet] was preaching... there commeth a doue flying towards him, & alighteth vpon his shoulder, and pidleth in his eare, looking for meate, hauing vsed her before to feede in his eare for the same purpose.1598, Richard Barckley, A Discourse of the Felicitie of Man..., page 217
- Synonyms:
- peck
- Synonym of nibble: to pick at or toy with one's food, to eat slowly or insubstantially.
- Diseases... that make them eate nothing at all, or else they doe but piddle and trifle.a. 1620, Jeremiah Dyke, Diuers Select Sermons on Seuerall Texts..., page 292
- As about seven seniors quietly eat meat patties, mashed potatoes and canned peaches, Newberry piddles with the food.2000 May 9, Myrtle Beach Sun-News, Sect. A, p. 1
- Synonyms:
- nibble
- To urinate.
- Ha, ha, ha, Paddy shit in his breaches, ha, ha, ha, I shall laugh till I piddle myself.1784, cited in Catalogue of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, Vol. VI, p. 128
- Synonyms:
- widdle
Proper noun capitalized: Piddle
Piddle
- A small river in Dorset, England.
- A brook in Worcestershire, England.
piddle meaning in Tamil and Kannada
piddle in Tamil
- சிறுநீர் கழித்தல், காலத்தை விரயம் செய்தல்
piddle in Kannada
- ಹುಡುಗಾಟಿಕೆಯಿಂದ ಕೆಲಸಮಾಡು, ಲಾಘವದಿಂದ ವರ್ತಿಸು
Synonyms of piddle
Forms of piddle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | piddles |
| alternative form (obsolete) | piddel |
| alternative form (obsolete) | pidle |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | piddles |
| present participle | piddling |
| past participle | piddled |
| past | piddled |
Origin of piddle
Unknown. Compare regional German piddlen, pitteln, pütteln, pühteln (“to pick at something, pick at one's food”), dialectal German Pitzel (“small effort, small task”). Alternatively, perhaps originally from paw or put + -le (suffix forming verbs involving continuous or repeated movement). In later use, a euphemistic diminutive of piss, though not directly related to it. The noun derives from the verb.
Unknown, but probably an Anglo-Saxon word for small watercourse, as several Piddles have been found in England. One source says it comes from Old English pidele (“marsh or fen”). The word predates the modern noun or verb piddle.
Words formed from piddle
Phrases with piddle
Questions about piddle
- What does piddle mean?
- Piddle means piss: urine.
- What is piddle in Tamil?
- Piddle in Tamil is சிறுநீர் கழித்தல், காலத்தை விரயம் செய்தல். See Piddle meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is piddle?
- Piddle can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce piddle?
- Piddle is pronounced /ˈpɪd.l̩/ (UK).
- What is the plural of piddle?
- The plural of piddle is piddles.
Words near piddle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: piddle (page history and authors); Piddle (page history and authors); piddle (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); piddle (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-piddle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “piddle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/piddle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.