noodle

English

Etymology

The sense "string of pasta" is from the German word Nudel; cognate to the Dutch noedel, Swedish nudel (the Flemish word noedel is also from German); of uncertain origin. The senses "fool" and "brain, head" are probably unrelated.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /nuːdl/, SAMPA: /nu:dl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -uːdəl

Noun

noodle (plural noodles)

Wikipedia

1. (usually in plural) A string or strip of pasta, especially as used in Chinese food.

   Although "spaghetti" is considered to be Italian, Marco Polo brought the noodle back from the Far East.

2. (colloquial) A person with poor judgement; a fool.
   • 1854, Charles Dickens, Hard Times

     Nothing that a Noodle does, can awaken surprise or indignation; the proceedings of a Noodle can only inspire contempt.

3. (colloquial) The brain, the head.

Derived terms

• egg noodle
• noodle bar
• pool noodle

Translations

string or strip of pasta

Burmese: ခေါက်ဆွဲ (my) Catalan: fideu (ca) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 麵條 (cmn), 面条 (cmn) (miàntiáo) Dutch: noedel (nl) m. Esperanto: nudelo (eo) Estonian: nuudel (et) Finnish: nuudeli (fi) French: nouille (fr) f. German: Nudel (de) f. (1,2) Hebrew: אטריה (he) (itria) f. Hungarian: metélt (hu), nudli (hu) Ido: nudelo (io) Indonesian: mi (id), mie (id) Italian: (string) taglierino (it) m., (strip) tagliatella (it) f. Japanese: ヌードル (ja) (nūdoru), 麺 (ja) (めん, men) Javanese: bakmi (jv), mi (jv)

Khmer: គុយទាវ (gūī dtīo), មី (mī) (egg) Korean: 국수 (ko) (guksu) Lao: ເຝີ (lo) (fəə) (rice), ໝີ່ (lo) (mii) (egg) Luxembourgish: Nuddel (lb) f. Malay: mi (ms) Portuguese: talharim, macarrão Romanian: tăiței (ro) pl. Russian: лапша (ru) (lapšá) f. Scottish Gaelic: nùdail (gd) f. Serbian: резанац (sr) (rezanac) m. Slovak: slíž (sk) m., rezanec (sk) m. Spanish: tallarín (es) m., fideo (es) m. Swedish: nudel (sv) c. Tamil: நூலடை (nooladai) Thai: ก๋วยเตี๋ยว (gŭay-dtĭeow), หมี่ (mèe) Turkish: şeriye (tr) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can Welsh: nwdl (cy) Yiddish: לוקש (yi)

fool — see fool

The brain, the head

Russian: мозги (ru) pl.

See also

• pasta
• spaghetti

Verb

noodle (third-person singular simple present noodles, present participle noodling, simple past and past participle noodled)

Wikipedia

1. (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.

2. 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

3. To fiddle, play with, or mess around.

   If the machine is really broken, noodling with the knobs is not going to fix it.

4. To improvise music.

   He has been noodling with that trumpet all afternoon, and every bit of it sounds awful.

5. (Australian) 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.

Derived terms

• noodler