Tag Archives: dawdle

There’s that frequentative/diminutive le ending again, this time with a d, as we see in dandle and diddle and dwindle and trundle and toddle… In fact, if it seems like a blend of toddle and dodder, well, even though it’s probably not, it gets close enough in sense, especially in its origins. It appears to be a variant of daddle, which means “walk totteringly like a child” (though it’s not directly related to waddle, even if the two words are anagrams) as well as “move slowly” and, from another perspective, “oh, come on, hurry up already!” Consider that one of the most common words to appear right before dawdle is don’t… this is not a word of endorsement. I can only suspect that it’s directed at children a sizable portion of the time. But it could be something a wed lad might do over a lewd ad in his inbox, too. Either way, one lets the time dribble away… Carpe diem? Sure, in a minute… let me just check my email…