Dictionary

noodly en · ADJ

Etymology

From noodle + -y.

Meanings

1. Of or pertaining to noodles (the food).
   • How did he get the money? In the noodliest way in the world. 1957, Moritz Jagendorf, Noodlehead Stories from Around the World, Vanguard Press, →ISBN, page 281:
   • My preferences tend toward beef noodle, chicken noodle—the noodlier soups. 2004, The New Yorker, page 63:
   • If you prefer a more “noodly” texture, heat them in an ungreased skillet for a few minutes. 2017, Ann Louise Gittleman, The Complete New Fat Flush Companion Series, McGraw-Hill Education, →ISBN, page 176:
   • NOODLIER THAN THE NORMAL NOODLE SOUP 1981, Good Housekeeping, page 345:
   • They’re spicier and more noodly. 2014, Leah Marie Brown, Faking It (The It Girl Series), Lyrical Press, →ISBN:
   • I got the grant and set off on a four-week tour of some of Japan’s noodliest destinations. 2015, Tim Anderson, Nanban: Japanese Soul Food, Square Peg, →ISBN:
2. (informal) Involving improvisation.
   • For a moment I thought he might ask me if I would sing, and I was excited, and afraid of that possibility. But he said, “A little more noodly, you know?[…]” 2005, Paul Ford, Gary Benchley, Rock Star, Plume, →ISBN, page 290:
   • He felt the pangs intensifying, as if the noodly, repetitive sounds were some lost language he'd known but forgotten, a dialect discarded or repressed. 1998 January 16, John Corbett, “Cradle of Electronica”, in Chicago Reader:
   • Mark P’s distaste was perhaps understandable on at least one level: this was two different bands, the original band that had demoed ‘Friction’, ‘Prove It’, ‘Venus De Milo’ and ‘Marquee Moon’ two years earlier with Island’s Richard Williams; and the altogether noodlier outfit, whose ‘Torn Curtain’, ‘Guiding Light’ and ‘Elevation’ seemed set in deliberate opposition to their original, earthier, aesthetic. 2007, Clinton Heylin, Babylon's Burning: From Punk to Grunge, Canongate, →ISBN, page 231:
   • That’s one of our goals in improvisation, to come up with something that seems previously composed as opposed to a loose improvisation that’s more noodly. 2009, T. Virgil Parker, Jessica Hopsicker, Carri Anne Yager, Sausage Factory: The College Crier’s Infamous Interviews of the Freaks and the Famous, Inkwater Press, →ISBN, page 233:
   • If the music becomes more “noodly,” why not try and trace the notes out in front of you with your fingers? 2008, Matt Pagett, The Best Dance Moves in the World…Ever!: 100 New and Classic Moves and How to Bust Them, San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle Books, →ISBN, page 80:
   • Mitchell likes to play off O’Malley’s singing, doubling her voice with noodlier versions of her melodies or playing call-and-response with little shrieks and tweets of feedback. 1997 August, Douglas Wolk, “CHUG / Metalon / Alias”, in CMJ New Music Monthly, number 48, page 12:
   • Both of those albums contained lots of what's charitably called filler--in the form of noodly hip-hop-inspired loops that never went anywhere--and it took the band five years to release the new Handcream for a Generation (Wiija/Beggars Banquet). 2002 May 17, Peter Margasak, “Cornershop”, in Chicago Reader:
   • They have the preeniest frontman, with his piano safely off towards the wings of the stage, the prettiest drummer, the noodliest guitarist and the quietest bass player. 2019, Mark Radcliffe, Crossroads: In Search of the Moments That Changed Music, Canongate Books, →ISBN:
3. Floppy, droopy.
   • A lot of her clothes move strangely: one dress has an exaggerated, uneven bustle, upon which is layered a long skirt made of elastic, resulting in a motion that Glaum-Lathbury describes as "wiggly and noodly." 2006 May 12, Liz Armstrong, Heather Kenny, “Big Imagination”, in Chicago Reader:
   • Posting the selfies on Instagram, where limbs are noodly or eyes are buggy, is meant to be silly, making it seem like the photographers take themselves — and social media — less seriously. 2022 July 3, Kalley Huang, “The Rise of the 0.5 Selfie”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Jul 2025:

Forms

Deriveds

noodliness

Translations (1)

eo nudela (pertaining to noodles)