fuddler

English

Etymology

fuddle +‎ -er

Noun

fuddler (plural fuddlers)

1. (colloquial, archaic) A drunkard.
   • 1696, Richard Baxter, edited by Matthew Sylvester, Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, or, Mr. Richard Baxters narrative of the most memorable passages of his life and times‎^[1], London: T. Parkhurst, et al, Book 1, Part 1, p. 4:

     And the last, I heard of him was, that he was grown a Fudler, and Railer at strict men.

   • 1855, Edwin Waugh, Sketches of Lancashire Life and Localities‎^[2], London: Whittaker, page 113:

     “Owd Roddle” is a broken-down village fuddler, in Smallbridge; perpetually racking his brains about “another gill.”

   • 1939 May 4, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC; republished London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1960, →OCLC:

     New York: Viking, 1967, Part 3, p. 569,^[3]text=Sing: Old Finncoole, he’s a mellow old saoul when he swills with his fuddlers free!

Synonyms

• alcoholic, souse, suck-pint; See also Thesaurus:drunkard

Anagrams

• furdled