noddy
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈnɒdi/
ipa: /ˈnɑdi/
ipa: [-ɾi]
homophone: knotty
homophone: naughty (cot–caught merger, flapping)
rhymes: -ɒdi
Forms: form: noddies
Etymology: From nod (“to incline the head up and down; to gradually fall asleep”) + -y (suffix forming diminutive nouns or familiar names; and meaning ‘of or relating to’ forming adjectives).
Noun sense 1 (“tern of the genus Anous”) possibly refers to the nodding behaviour of the birds during courtship. Sense 3 (“fellatio”) refers to the nodding motion of the head of a person performing the sex act. Sense 5 (“cutaway scene of a television interviewer nodding”) was coined by the English cultural theorist and media scholar John Fiske (1939–2021) in 1987. Sense 6.2 (“state of being asleep”) is possibly a pun on etymology 1, sense 2.2.1 (“sexual intercourse”).
Senses: examples: text: VVe savv no Land this Day, but ſavv a great many Snakes and ſome VVhales. VVe ſavv alſo ſome Boobies, and Noddy-birds; and in the Night caught one of theſe laſt. […] The Top or Crovvn of the Head of this Noddy was Coal-black, having alſo ſmall black Streaks round about and cloſe to the Eyes; and round theſe Streaks on each ſide, a pretty broad vvhite Circle. The Breaſt, Belly, and under part of the VVings of this Noddy vvere vvhite: And the Back and upper part of its VVings of a faint black or ſmoak Colour.
ref: 1703, William Dampier, chapter III, in A Voyage to New Holland, &c. in the Year 1699. […]. Vol. III, London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 142:
text: The Rocks and outer Lines of the Iſland, are the Haunts of variety of Sea-Birds, eſpecially Boobies and Noddies; […] The Noddies are ſmaller and flat footed alſo.
ref: 1724, Charles Johnson [pseudonym], “A Description of the Islands of St. Thome, Del Principe, and Annobono”, in A General History of the Pyrates, […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for, and sold by T. Warner, […], →OCLC, page 195:
text: At noon ſome noddies came ſo near to us, that one of them was caught by hand. This bird was about the ſize of a ſmall pigeon. I divided it, vvith its entrails, into 18 portions, and by a vvell-knovvn method at ſea, of, VVho ſhall have this? it vvas diſtributed, vvith the allovvance of bread and vvater for dinner, and eat up bones and all, vvith ſalt vvater for ſauce.
ref: 1792, William Bligh, chapter XV, in A Voyage to the South Sea, […] in His Majesty’s Ship The Bounty, […], London: […] George Nicol, […], →OCLC, page 194:
text: At length they caught two boobies, and a noddy, / And then they left off eating the dead body.
ref: 1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto II, stanza LXXXII, page 160:
text: We only observed two kinds of birds [on Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago]—the booby and the noddy. The former is a species of gannet, and the latter a tern. Both are of a tame and stupid disposition, and are so unaccustomed to visiters,^([sic – meaning visitors]) that I could have killed any number of them with my geological hammer.
ref: 1839, Charles Darwin, chapter I, in Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 9:
text: A cloud of sea birds hovered overhead, the gannets diving with folded wings, while the black noddy-terns fluttered down in companies each time the fish drove the small fry to the surface.
ref: 1934 November, Charles Nordhoff, James Norman Hall, chapter I, in Pitcairn’s Island, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 11:
glosses: Any of several stout-bodied, gregarious terns of the genus Anous found in tropical seas, especially the brown noddy or common noddy (Anous stolidus).
examples: text: [S]he has brought over a nevv language vvith her. […] VVhy a new kind of a London Engliſh, that's no more like our Iriſh Engliſh, than a coxcomb's fine gilded chariot like a Glaſſmanogue [i.e., Phibsborough, Dublin] noddy.
ref: 1761 (first performance), Charles Macklin, The True-born Irishman; or, Irish Fine Lady. A Comedy of Two Acts, Dublin: Sold by the booksellers, published 1783, →OCLC, Act I, page 8:
text: "By Jove, I think one of us must go into town.[…]" / "Let's see Nutter—you or I must go—we'll take one of these songster's "noddies."["] [A "noddy," give me leave to remark, was the one-horse hack vehicle of Dublin and the country round, which has since given place to the jaunting car, which is, in turn, half superseded by the cab.]
ref: 1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “How a Squire Was Found for the Knight of the Rueful Countenance”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume I, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, pages 92–93:
text: Down there Emmet was hanged, drawn and quartered. Greasy black rope. Dogs licking the blood off the street when the lord lieutenant's wife drove by in her noddy.
ref: 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 10: Wandering Rocks]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], pages 230–231:
topics: road
transport
glosses: A small two-wheeled carriage drawn by a single horse.
examples: text: Bakin' off of this light skin hottie / Sweet ting, arch ya up and give noddy
ref: 2024 January 14, “Aint a Joke”, Bobby Shmurda [pseudonym; Ackquille Jean Pollard], Dontplay [pseudonym] (lyrics), [United Kingdom]: Y2O Records, 1:39 from the start:
glosses: Synonym of fellatio.
synonyms: word: fellatio
glosses: Synonym of northern fulmar (“an Arctic seabird, Fulmarus glacialis”).
synonyms: word: northern fulmar
extra: an Arctic seabird, Fulmarus glacialis
examples: text: Noddies are often filmed after the interview in question has finished.
topics: broadcasting
media
television
synonyms: nodder
noddy headshot
noddy-shot
nod shot
glosses: A cutaway scene of a television interviewer nodding at the person being interviewed (or sometimes the interviewee nodding at the interviewer), often used to cover an editing gap in an interview.
examples: text: The elegant inverted Pendulum or Noddy contrived by the late Mr Hardy, suggested to me a different arrangement. […] It is evident that, by adjusting the stiffness of the wire, or the height of the ball C, we may alter to any extent the relation of the forces of Elasticity and of Gravity, and consequently render the equilibrium of the machine in a vertical position stable, indifferent, or unstable.
ref: 1841 April 19 (date delivered), James D[avid] Forbes, “XIII.—On the Theory and Construction of a Seismometer, or Instrument for Measuring Earthquake Shocks, and Other Concussions.”, in Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, volume XV, part I, Edinburgh: Robert Grant & Son, […]; London: T[homas] Cadell, […], published 1844, →OCLC, pages 219–220:
glosses: In clockmaking and watchmaking: an inverted pendulum consisting of a short, vertical, flat spring which supports a rod having a bob at the top, which is used for detecting and measuring slight horizontal vibrations of a body to which it is attached.
examples: text: In Paternoſter-rovv, vve found a fellovv at nodie upon a ſtall, vvith his Lanthorn and Candle by him, having firſt ſeized on that, and throvvn it into the Kennel, vve proſecuted our abuſe by falling upon him, and beating him. […] [T]o our coſt, vve found him as nimble and as light footed as a Stag, vvho overtaking us, ſurprized us; and as he vvas carrying us before the Conſtable, vve met vvith the grand Round, vvho, vvithout as much examination, committed us as Rates to the Counter.
ref: 1665, Richard Head, “How He Frequented Bawdy-houses; what Exploits He Committed in Them; the Character of a Bawd, a Whore, a Pimp, and a Trapan; Their Manner of Living; with a Detection of Their Wicked Lives and Conversations”, in The English Rogue Described, in the Life of Meriton Latroon, a Witty Extravagant. […], London: […] Francis Kirkman, and are to be sold by him and Thomas Dring the younger, […], published 1668, →OCLC, page 110:
glosses: In at noddy: a state of being asleep.
Hyponyms: sense: terns
taxonomic: Anous minutus
word: black noddy
sense: terns
alt: Procelsterna cerulea
word: blue noddy
sense: terns
word: brown noddy
sense: terns
taxonomic: Anous stolidus
word: common noddy
sense: terns
alt: Procelsterna albivitta
word: grey noddy
sense: terns
taxonomic: Anous tenuirostris
word: sooty noddy
sense: terns
taxonomic: Gygis alba
word: white noddy