canoodle
/kəˈnud(ə)l/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.34 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To caress, fondle, or pet (someone); also, to have sexual intercourse with (someone); to make love with.
Slang; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "He’s got a big smile on his face—who’s he been canoodling recently?"
- "“There,” she cried triumphantly, when her labours were finished, “it [the drawing-room] looks different now, really quite effective and ‘canoodling’.”"
- "And above all things, do not let her kanoodle you with soft words and looks of love, because she is full of 'em. If she can't scare you, with her indignation at the outrage of arresting and searching her, she will try to capture you and make you love her. You must be as firm as adamant."
- "He canoodled my husband into believin' that the end of the world was comin' and it was his duty to give all his property away."
- "Young Robin and my daughter. / ‘Canoodling’ too. This must lead to manslaughter."
- "Gerald Arbuthnot sat with her in the library all the time Jim was upstairs dying and they canoodled together on the sofa in front of the fire."
Etymology
The origin of the verb is uncertain; the following possibilities have been suggested: * From a blend of ca(ress) + noodle (“to engage in frivolous behavior; to fool around or waste time; to mess around, to play”). * From German knuddeln (“to cuddle; (originally) to embrace tightly”); or related to Low German knuddle (“a clump, a knot”), a diminutive of knude, related to Old High German knodo, knoto (“a knot”) (modern German Knoten (“knot”)); ultimate etymology unknown. Compare also Norwegian Bokmål knulle (“to fuck”), Swedish knulla (“to fuck”), both from Proto-Germanic *knuzlijaną (“to beat; to mash”) (and also compare the semantics of the Scandinavian cognates of fuck). The noun is probably derived from the verb.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: knuddeln, knuddle, knodo
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kəˈnud(ə)l/
- British English: /kəˈnuːdl̩/
Usage
Inflected Forms
canoodles (present, singular)
canoodling (participle, present)
canoodled (participle, past)
canoodled (past)
cannoodle (alternative)
conoodle (alternative)
kanoodle (alternative)
canoodles (plural)