dandle
Pronunciation
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Pronunciation
- (British, GA) IPA: /ˈdændəl/, [ˈdændəɫ]
dandle (dandles, present participle dandling; past and past participle dandled)
- (transitive) To move up and down on one's knee or in one's arms, in affectionate play, as an infant.
- 1978, Bible, New International Version, Isaiah 66:12
- You will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.
- 1978, Bible, New International Version, Isaiah 66:12
- (transitive) To treat with fondness, as if a child; to fondle; to toy with; to pet.
- [T]hey have put me in a silk night-gown and gaudy fool's cap, and make me now and then stand in the window with it. I am ashamed to be dandled thus, and cannot look in the glass without blushing to see myself turned into such a pretty little master.
- The book, thus dandled into popularity by bishops and good ladies, contained many pieces of nursery eloquence.
- (transitive, obsolete) To play with; to put off or delay by trifles; to wheedle.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, A View of the present State of Ireland
- captaines, who notwithstanding that they are specially imployed to make peace thorough strong execution of warre, yet they doe so dandle their doings, and dallie in the service to them committed
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, A View of the present State of Ireland
- (to treat with fondness) see also Thesaurus:pamper or Thesaurus:fondle
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003