huddle
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈhʌdəl/
rhymes: -ʌdəl
Forms: form: huddles
form: huddling
form: huddled
form: huddled
Etymology: From Middle English *hudelen, alteration (due to hudels, hidels (“hiding place”), see hiddle) of *huderen, hoderen (“to cover; press together; huddle”), a frequentative form of Middle English huden, hiden (“to hide”), equivalent to hide + -le and/or hide + -er. Compare Low German huderken (“to brood; coddle; nurse; lull children to sleep”).
Senses: examples: text: The sheep huddled together seeking warmth.
text: During all these operations the apes who had entered sat huddled near the door watching their chief, while those outside strained and crowded to catch a glimpse of what transpired within.
ref: 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 4, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC:
glosses: To crowd together.
examples: text: Just south of Wamphray station they overtook the runaway. The dim figure of Mitchell could be seen sitting huddled behind the stormboard. They shouted and whistled. He paid no attention.
ref: 1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 54:
glosses: To curl one's legs up to the chest and keep one's arms close to the torso; to crouch; to assume a position similar to that of an embryo in the womb.
examples: text: George Hirsch, chairman of the board of Road Runners, said officials huddled all day Friday, hoping to devise an alternate race. They considered replacing the marathon with a race that would comprise the final 10 miles of marathon, starting at the base of the Queensboro 59th Street Bridge on the Manhattan side. But that was not deemed plausible, Mr. Hirsch said.
ref: 2012 November 2, Ken Belson, New York Times, retrieved 02 Nov 2012:
glosses: To get together and discuss a topic.
topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To form a huddle.
examples: text: Our adversary, huddling several suppositions together,[…]makes a medley and confusion.
ref: 1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To crowd (things) together; to mingle confusedly; to assemble without order or system.
examples: text: Huddle up a peace.
ref: 1845, John Henry Newman, Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine:
text: Let him forecast his work with timely care, / Which else is huddled when the skies are fair.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: Now, in all haste, they huddle on / Their hoods, their cloaks, and get them gone.
ref: 1728, Jonathan Swift, The Journal of a Modern Lady:
text: This resolution she accordingly executed; and the next morning before the sun, she huddled on her cloaths, and at a very unfashionable, unseasonable, unvisitable hour, went to Lady Bellaston […]
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling:
glosses: To do, make, or put, in haste or roughly; hence, to do imperfectly; usually with a following preposition or adverb (huddle on, huddle up, huddle together).
topics: bridge
games
glosses: To hesitate during play while thinking about one's next move.
Derived terms: huddlement
huddler
huddlingly
unhuddle