whangdoodle
/ˈwæŋ.duː.dl̩/
whangdoodle noun: a whimsical monster in folklore and children's fiction; a bugbear.
Noun
whangdoodle (plural whangdoodles)
- A whimsical monster in folklore and children's fiction; a bugbear.
- "I'm n-n-not a tor-tor-tortoise," stuttered the curious creature, "I'm a wha-wha-whang-whang-doodle."
"A whangdoodle! What's that?"1901, Charles M. Snyder, Runaway Robinson, page 53 - Bob gave the man fair warning. Told him if he ever prowled around his home again he'd better come a–fogging; the man took a chance and now he's where the woodbine twineth and the whangdoodle mourneth for its mate.1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter II, in The Understanding Heart
- "I'm n-n-not a tor-tor-tortoise," stuttered the curious creature, "I'm a wha-wha-whang-whang-doodle."
- A term of disparagement.
- For a man who can listen for an hour to Mr. White, the whining, nasal, Whangdoodle preacher, and then sit down and write, without shedding melancholy from his pen as water slides from a duck's back, is more than mortal.1862, Mark Twain, Mark Twain's letters: 1853-1866, Volume 1 (published 1987), page 171
- […]and I want you to conflumux everything got up by Mrs. Davis or Miss Lane, or any other of these political whangdoodles.1867, John Ballou Newbrough, The fall of Fort Sumter, or, Love and war in 1860-61, page 131
- A ruling in which the opening stake limits are doubled for the next play after the appearance of a very good hand.
- It is sometimes agreed in advance that after a hand of certain rank, such as Four of a Kind or a Full House, is shown, a Whangdoodle or Jackpot must be played[…]1940, Clement Wood, Gloria Goddard, The Complete Book of Games, page 296
Synonyms of whangdoodle
Forms of whangdoodle
| plural | whangdoodles |
|---|---|
| alternative form | whang-doodle |
Origin of whangdoodle
Of American origin. First use appears c.1856. Popularized by appearing in a sermon parody attributed to William P. Brannan as "Where the lion roareth and the whangdoodle mourneth for her first-born," published in The Harp of a Thousand Strings: Or, Laughter for a Lifetime (1858). Roald Dahl uses the term in at least three stories of his: James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The Minpins. In at least two of those stories, namely Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Minpins, the whangdoodle is stated to be a vicious monster.
Questions about whangdoodle
- What does whangdoodle mean?
- Whangdoodle means a whimsical monster in folklore and children's fiction; a bugbear.
- What part of speech is whangdoodle?
- Whangdoodle is a noun.
- How do you pronounce whangdoodle?
- Whangdoodle is pronounced /ˈwæŋ.duː.dl̩/.
- What is the plural of whangdoodle?
- The plural of whangdoodle is whangdoodles.
Words near whangdoodle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: whangdoodle (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-whangdoodle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “whangdoodle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/whangdoodle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.