Noodle
Pronunciation
- IPA: /nuËdl/
- Rhymes: -uËdÉ™l
Origin
(string of pasta) From German Nudel of uncertain origin; cognate to Dutch noedel, Swedish nudel (the West Flemish noedel is also from German). The senses "fool" and "brain, head" are probably unrelated.
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Full definition of noodle
Noun
noodle
(plural noodles)- (usually in plural) A string or strip of pasta.She slurped a long noodle up out of her soup.
- (colloquial, dated) A person with poor judgement; a fool.
- Sydney Smiththe chuckling grin of noodles
- Charles Dickens, Hard TimesIf that portrait could speak, sir — but it has the advantage over the original of not possessing the power of committing itself and disgusting others, — it would testify, that a long period has elapsed since I first habitually addressed it as the picture of a noodle.
- (colloquial) The brain, the head.
- (colloquial) A pool noodle.
Derived terms
Verb
- (fishing) To fish (usually for very large catfish) without any equipment other than the fisherman's own body Fred had several lacerations on his hands from noodling for flathead in the river.
- To think or ponder.He noodled over the problem for a day or two before making a decision."Noodle that thought around for a while" said Dr. Johnson to his Biblical Interpretations class
- To fiddle, play with, or mess around.If the machine is really broken, noodling with the knobs is not going to fix it.
- To improvise music.He has been noodling with that trumpet all afternoon, and every bit of it sounds awful.
- (Australia) To fossick, especially for opals.
- 1989, Association for Industrial Archaeology, Industrial archaeology review, Volume 12,On the Olympic Field the tour-group is permitted to ‘noodle’ (hunt for opals) on the waste or mullock heaps ...
- 1994, RonMoon, Outback Australia: a Lonely Planet Australia guide,In Coober Pedy, noodling for opals is generally discouraged, although a few tourist spots, such as the Old Timers Mine, have noodle pits open to the public.
- 2006, Marele Day, Susan Bradley Smith, Fay Knight (editors), Making Waves: 10 Years of the Byron Bay Writers Festival ,We learn how Lennon used to noodle (fossick) for opal as a kid, how camels were for a long time the only form of transportation, and where the name 'Coober Pedy' came from.