cuddy en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /ˈkʌdi/
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
Uncertain. Perhaps a contraction from Dutch kajuit (“cabin”).
Meanings
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A cabin, for the use of the captain, in the after part of a sailing ship under the poop deck.
Being summoned to the cuddy to breakfast, I had not been there five minutes when I turned deadly sick, was obliged to retire to my cot […] .
1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 77It was a strong measure I own, walking into your cuddy, and calling for drink as if I was the Captain […]
1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 44, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:The sight of that watery-eyed old Jones mopping his bald head with a red cotton handkerchief, the sorrowing yelp of the dog, the squalor of that fly-blown cuddy which was the only shrine of his memory, threw a veil of inexpressibly mean pathos over Brierly’s remembered figure, the posthumous revenge of fate for that belief in his own splendour which had almost cheated his life of its legitimate terrors.
1900, Joseph Conrad, chapter 6, in Lord Jim:
- A small cupboard or closet.
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(Durham, Scotland, historical, qualifier:Northumberland) A donkey, especially one driven by a huckster or greengrocer.
folk said the cuddy had bided so long with Pooty that whenever it opened its mouth to give a bit bray it started to stutter.
1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 31:
- (UK) A pony that works in a mine.
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(dated) A blockhead; a lout.
1840-1841, Thomas Hood, "Miss Kilmansegg and Her Precious Leg" It cost more tricks and trouble, by half, Than it takes to exhibit a six-legged calf To a boothful of country cuddies.
- A lever mounted on a tripod for lifting stones, leveling up railroad ties, etc.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| cuddies | Number=Plur | lexicographic |