noddy

noun

1. (archaic, countable)A silly or stupid person; a fool, an idiot.

   “I graunt for my parte by fayth of my body / why where the deuyll is this horeſon nody”

   “Hum[phrey]. If it be ſo, my friend, you vſe me fine, / VVhat do you thinke I am? / Iasp[er]. An arrant noddie / Hum. A vvord of obliquie, novv by Gods bodie, / I'le tell thy maiſter for I knovv thee vvell.”

   “Leo Decimus [Pope Leo X] that ſcoffing Pope, […] took an extraordinary delight in humoring of ſilly fellovves, and to put gulleries vpon them, […] he made ſoft fellovves ſtarke noddies, and ſuch as vvere fooliſh, quite mad before hee left them.”

   “VVere not Thoſe bleſſed days vvhen our Divines had Saleſmen, and Mechaniques for their Tryers; and the Laity a ſupercilious Company of Claſſical, and Congregational Noddys for the Inſpectours of our Lives and Manners: […]”

   “VVhy, vvhat a noddy have I been, to take this ſtrapper alvvays for a girl!”

2. (countable, historical)In full knave noddy: the jack or knave playing card.

   “The ſpout of ſport, and follies turtle Doue, / Noddie turn'd vp, all made, yet loſe the tricke.”

   “You vvant four, and I tvvo, and my Deal: Novv, Knave noddy—no, Hearts be Trumps.”

3. (historical, uncountable)In full noddy-fifteen: a certain card game related to cribbage.

   “[W]ell let not me take you at Noddy anie more, leaſt I preſent you to the pariſh for a gamſter, this is the ninth ſet that you haue loſt, and yet you will not leaue off.”

   “Let 'hem embrace more frugal pastimes. VVhy ſhould not the thriftie and right vvorſhipfull game of Poſt and payre content 'hem? Or the vvittie inuention of Noddie, for counters? or God make them rich, at the Tables? but Masking, and Reuelling?”

   “[H]e told me he had him at command when he was a page, but by plaieing to [too] much at primeroe and noddy he loſt Time and his monie to [too].”

4. (broadly, countable, historical, obsolete, slang, uncountable)In full noddy-fifteen: a certain card game related to cribbage.

   “I left her at Cardes, ſhee'll ſit vp till you come, becauſe ſhee'll haue you play a game at Noddie; […]”

5. Any of several stout-bodied, gregarious terns of the genus Anous found in tropical seas, especially the brown noddy or common noddy (Anous stolidus).

   “The Rocks and outer Lines of the Iſland, are the Haunts of variety of Sea-Birds, eſpecially Boobies and Noddies; […] The Noddies are ſmaller and flat footed alſo.”

   “At noon ſome noddies came ſo near to us, that one of them was caught by hand. This bird was about the ſize of a ſmall pigeon. I divided it, vvith its entrails, into 18 portions, and by a vvell-knovvn method at ſea, of, VVho ſhall have this? it vvas diſtributed, vvith the allovvance of bread and vvater for dinner, and eat up bones and all, vvith ſalt vvater for ſauce.”

   “At length they caught two boobies, and a noddy, / And then they left off eating the dead body.”

   “We only observed two kinds of birds [on Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago]—the booby and the noddy. The former is a species of gannet, and the latter a tern. Both are of a tame and stupid disposition, and are so unaccustomed to visiters,^([sic – meaning visitors]) that I could have killed any number of them with my geological hammer.”

6. (Ireland, Scotland, historical)A small two-wheeled carriage drawn by a single horse.

   “[S]he has brought over a nevv language vvith her. […] VVhy a new kind of a London Engliſh, that's no more like our Iriſh Engliſh, than a coxcomb's fine gilded chariot like a Glaſſmanogue [i.e., Phibsborough, Dublin] noddy.”

   “"By Jove, I think one of us must go into town.[…]" / "Let's see Nutter—you or I must go—we'll take one of these songster's "noddies."["] [A "noddy," give me leave to remark, was the one-horse hack vehicle of Dublin and the country round, which has since given place to the jaunting car, which is, in turn, half superseded by the cab.]”

   “Down there Emmet was hanged, drawn and quartered. Greasy black rope. Dogs licking the blood off the street when the lord lieutenant's wife drove by in her noddy.”

7. (Multicultural-London-English, slang)Synonym of fellatio.

   “Bakin' off of this light skin hottie / Sweet ting, arch ya up and give noddy”

8. (Newfoundland, Northeastern, US)Synonym of northern fulmar (“an Arctic seabird, Fulmarus glacialis”).
9. (UK, informal)A cutaway scene of a television interviewer nodding at the person being interviewed (or sometimes the interviewee nodding at the interviewer), often used to cover an editing gap in an interview.

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

10. (obsolete)In clockmaking and watchmaking: an inverted pendulum consisting of a short, vertical, flat spring which supports a rod having a bob at the top, which is used for detecting and measuring slight horizontal vibrations of a body to which it is attached.

    “The elegant inverted Pendulum or Noddy contrived by the late Mr Hardy, suggested to me a different arrangement. […] It is evident that, by adjusting the stiffness of the wire, or the height of the ball C, we may alter to any extent the relation of the forces of Elasticity and of Gravity, and consequently render the equilibrium of the machine in a vertical position stable, indifferent, or unstable.”

11. (obsolete, rare)In at noddy: a state of being asleep.

    “In Paternoſter-rovv, vve found a fellovv at nodie upon a ſtall, vvith his Lanthorn and Candle by him, having firſt ſeized on that, and throvvn it into the Kennel, vve proſecuted our abuſe by falling upon him, and beating him. […] [T]o our coſt, vve found him as nimble and as light footed as a Stag, vvho overtaking us, ſurprized us; and as he vvas carrying us before the Conſtable, vve met vvith the grand Round, vvho, vvithout as much examination, committed us as Rates to the Counter.”

adj

1. (England, regional)Foolish, silly, stupid.

   “For that no man shulde se / Nor rede in any scrolles / Of theyr dronken nolles, / Nor of theyr noddy polles, […]”

   “I beſeech you, VVill your VViſdoms, or common Senſe, or Underſtanding, or vvhat you vvill call it, approve of nothing in our Common-Prayer Book, that you preſent us vvith an inane nihil, a nevv Directory of a noddy Synod, or find you ſo many Deficiencies in Monarchical Government, that you ſhould ſeek to introduce an Ochlocracy, a People Svvay?”

2. (archaic)Drowsy, sleepy.

   “[…] I'll say a prayer and try to go to sleep. I feel very noddy all at once.”

verb

1. (obsolete, rare, transitive)Synonym of noddify (“to make (someone) into a noddy (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1), to make a fool of”)

   “If ſuch an Aſſe be noddied for the nonce, / I ſay but this, to helpe his Idle fit; / Let him but thanke himſelfe for lacke of VVit, […]”