noddy

English

Etymology 1

Probably a shortening of noddypoll, a now obsolete alteration of hoddypoll, "fumbling inept person".

Noun

noddy (plural noddies)

1. A stupid or silly person.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of L'Estrange to this entry?)

Translations

stupid or silly person

• Finnish: tomppeli (fi), tollo (fi)

Etymology 2

nod +‎ -y?

Noun

noddy (plural noddies)

1. Any of several stout-bodied, gregarious terns of the genera Anous and Procelsterna, found in tropical seas.
2. (dated) A small two-wheeled vehicle drawn by a single horse.
3. An inverted pendulum consisting of a short vertical flat spring which supports a rod having a bob at the top; used for detecting and measuring slight horizontal vibrations of a body to which it is attached.
4. (obsolete, uncountable) An old card game.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

   

   

   A grey noddy

Derived terms

• brown noddy, Anous stolidus
• sooty noddy, Anous tenuirostris
• black noddy, Anous minutus
• blue noddy, Procelsterna cerulea
• grey noddy, Procelsterna albivitta

Translations

bird of the genus Anous or Procelsterna

• Finnish: ruskotiira (fi) (Anous); tuhkatiira (fi) (Procelsterna)

Wikipedia

Etymology 3

nod +‎ -y, coined by John Fiske in 1987.

Noun

noddy (plural noddies)

1. (television) A cutaway scene of a television interviewer nodding, used to cover an editing gap in an interview.

   Noddies are often filmed after the interview in question has finished.

Wikipedia

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967