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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

fuddle-duddle en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

Etymology

From fuddle, after fuddy-duddy, but development of meaning unclear. Perhaps from the interjection coined by Pierre Trudeau (see next etymology).

Meanings

  1. To depart, to be off.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
fuddle-duddles Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
fuddle-duddling Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
fuddle-duddled Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
fuddle-duddled Tense=Past lexicographic

fuddle-duddle en · INTJ · etymology 2

Pronunciation

Etymology

There is an example of the phrase's use in the early 1940s, in "Mother Finds a Body", by Gypsy Rose Lee: "...when [he] asks me where I was on the night of so-and-so, I'll tell him to go fuddle his duddle". However the expression fuddle-duddle is attributed to Pierre Elliott Trudeau, former prime minister of Canada, who according to some sources said it in parliament on 16 February 1971 and repeated it when pressed by television reporters about using profanity in respect to members of Parliament (Canadian House of Commons).

Meanings

  1. (euphemistic) Fuck! Fuck off!
    • What is the nature of your thoughts, gentlemen, when you say “fuddle duddle” or something like that? 1971, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, (Please provide the book title or journal name):