giddy
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɡɪd.i/
ipa: /ˈɡɪd.i/
ipa: [ˈɡɪɾ.i]
rhymes: -ɪdi
Forms: form: giddies
form: giddying
form: giddied
form: giddied
Etymology: The adjective is derived from Middle English gidi, gedy, gydy (“demonically controlled or possessed; crazy, insane; foolish, idiotic, ridiculous, unwise; unsure; (rare) dizzy, shaky; (rare) of an animal: crazed, out of control; a fool”) [and other forms], from Old English gidiġ, gydiġ (“possessed by a demon or spirit, insane, mad”), from Proto-West Germanic *gudīg (“ghostly, spirited”, literally “possessed by a god or spirit”), from *god (“god”) + *-ig, *-g (suffix forming adjectives with the senses of being, doing, or having). The English word is analysable as god + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’, forming adjectives).
The noun and the verb are derived from the adjective.
Senses: examples: text: A nevv faſhion of apparrell creepeth no ſooner into vſe, but preſently he blameth and diſpraiſeth the olde, and that vvith ſo earneſt a reſolution, and vniverſall a conſent, that you vvould ſay, it is ſome kinde of madnes, or ſelfe-fond humor, that giddieth his vnderſtanding.
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Ancient Customes”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 161:
text: [T]he footmen vſe it [opium] too as a preſeruer of ſtrength, and vvhich is ſtrangeſt, ſo giddies them, that in a conſtant dreame or dizzineſſe, they run ſleeping not knovving vvhom they meet, and yet miſſe not their intended places: […]
ref: 1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “A Discourse of the Life and Habit of the Persians at this Present”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 151:
text: And indeed her ovvn little head vvas ſo giddied vvith this vvonderful elevation; […] that had ſhe not really been one of the prettieſt figures that can be imagined, ſhe vvould have been inſufferable.
ref: 1751, [John Cleland], “Part I”, in Memoirs of a Coxcomb, London: […] R[alph] Griffiths, […], →OCLC, page 102:
text: [T]he hiss of the plunging shot deafening their ear and giddying the brain, with life and liberty beyond, and behind a doom more dread than death, they fled on through the heavy, breathless night.
ref: 1865, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], “Thalassis! Thalassis!”, in Strathmore: A Romance […], volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 275:
glosses: To make (someone or something) dizzy or unsteady; to dizzy.
examples: text: Giddied, he gave up a moment's purchase of ground.
ref: 1981, Nadine Gordimer, July’s People, 1st UK edition, London: Jonathan Cape […], →ISBN, page 98:
glosses: To become dizzy or unsteady.
examples: text: [B]y chance, a sudden north-wind fetch'd, / With an extreme sea, quite about again / Our whole endeavours, and our course constrain / To giddy round, and with our bow'd sails greet / Dreadful Maleia, calling back our fleet / As far forth as Cythera.
ref: 1614–1615, Homer, “The Ninth Book of Homer’s Odysseys”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume I, London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC, page 202, lines 132–137:
synonyms: vertiginate
glosses: To move around something or spin rapidly; to reel; to whirl.
Derived terms: giddy up