dottle
/ˈdɒtəl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 0.00 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A baby's dummy, pacifier.
verb
To set pottery flatware horizontally on thimbles.
noun
A dotard.
Example Sentences
- "1892, Richard Oliver Heslop, Northumberland Words. English Dialect Society - Kegan Paul et al. In refilling a pipe, where twist is smoked, a common practice is to save the dottle and put it on the top of the new-filled pipe. "Aw like a baccy dottle to leet wiv.""
- "one hand guards the burning dottle of my pipe from the force of the wind"
- "I clenched my pipe in my right fist and poked at the dottle busily with various fingers, first one then another, of my left hand."
- "He tapped out the dottle on the deck, locked the steering oar in position, and commenced repacking his pipe."
- "I fiddle and scrape and poke for a while, banging out the dottle from my previous pipeful into an ashtray and puffing down the stem like a horn player warming up his trumpet."
- "When days and years proclaim you’re old — A dottle, cripple, gouty fellow, Then for support you can lay hold O’ the upright of your umberella."
Etymology
From Middle English dottel, dottelle (“a plug or tap of a vessel”), a diminutive of Old English dott (> English dot (“a point”)), equivalent to dot + -le. Related to Old English dyttan (“to stop up, clot”), Dutch dot (“a knot, lump, clod”), Low German Dutte (“a plug”). More at dit.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈdɒtəl/
Inflected Forms
dottles (plural)
dottel (alternative)
dottles (present, singular)
dottling (participle, present)
dottled (participle, past)
dottled (past)
more dottle (comparative)
most dottle (superlative)