Doodle Definition

do͝odl
doodled, doodles, doodling
verb
doodled, doodles, doodling
To scribble or draw aimlessly or nervously, esp. when the attention is elsewhere; make doodles.
Webster's New World
To move aimlessly or foolishly; dawdle.
Webster's New World
To draw (figures) while preoccupied.
American Heritage
To play music in a casual, informal way.
Webster's New World

To draw or scribble (something) aimlessly.

Wiktionary
noun
doodles
A mark, design, figure, etc. made in doodling.
Webster's New World
1812, "THE TEARS OF SIR VICARY!!!", The Scourge, 2 March 1812, page 231.
Perceval. Weep on! weep on! thou flouted loon,
Weep on! weep on! thou gowky doodle!
Wiktionary
1837, "Carmen Inaugurale", Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, November 1837, page 676.
Courtier, it was thine to bow —
Great Arthur he, and Doodle thou!
Wiktionary

A small mindless sketch, etc.

Wiktionary

(slang, sometimes childish) Penis.

Wiktionary
Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Doodle

Noun

Singular:
doodle
Plural:
doodles

Origin of Doodle

  • The meaning "fool, simpleton" is intended in the song title "Yankee Doodle", originally sung by British colonial troops prior to the American Revolutionary War. This is also the origin of the early eighteenth century verb to doodle, meaning "to swindle or to make a fool of". The modern meaning emerged in the 1930s either from this meaning or from the verb "to dawdle", which since the seventeenth century has had the meaning of wasting time or being lazy.

    From Wiktionary

  • The word doodle first appeared in the early 17th century to mean a fool or simpleton. German variants of the etymon include Dudeltopf, Dudentopf, Dudenkopf, Dude and Dödel. American English dude may be a derivation of doodle.

    From Wiktionary

  • Influenced by dawdle, from German dudeln (“to play (the bagpipe)”), from dudel (“a bagpipe”), from Czech or Polish dudy (“a bagpipe”), from Turkish düdük (“a flute”).

    From Wiktionary

  • English dialectal to fritter away time perhaps from doodle fool doodlebug

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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