Verb
To fiddle (play aimlessly).
- Synonyms
- Examples
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I am afraid I must be at bottom, what a cheerful Indian critic has dubbed me, "a faddling hedonist" […]
He faddles over the needless, such as hanging maps up on the walls in the section and putting inkpots on the mantelpiece.
More examples (1)
I had that awful woman, Celia Thaxter, sitting next to me, boring me to death with what a marvellous writer Mark Twain was […] I said, "look, dear, he's sitting just over there. Why don't you go and talk to him?" She faddled around, blushing like a schoolgirl and saying she couldn't possibly.
To dote on.
Usage- UK usage
- Dated
- Examples
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More examples (2)
Even then, when nurse is ready to take baby out for a walk, properly wrapped up, faddling Mamma comes to examine, if not a little corner remains to be closed to the air.
“The last year she spent faddling at Aunt Mai's […] I am not sure this is necessary to her happiness, this faddling after other people. Now, to faddle after folk, who don't want you, is madness . . . but to faddle after those that do is very good employment. Now […] you are the very person for her, for she dotes on you […]”
She was doing no good in church all put about and faddling after Blackie.