canoodle
Plural: canoodles
Verb
Verb Forms: canoodled, canoodling, canoodles
- To engage in kissing and cuddling; to fondle playfully.
- fondle or pet affectionately
- To caress, pet, feel up, or make love.
- To cajole or persuade.
Noun
- A cuddle, hug, or caress
- A fool or foolish lover.
- A donkey.
Examples
- He tried to CANOODLE his way out of a bad rack, but the letters just wouldn’t cooperate.
- He’s got a big smile on his face; who’s he been canoodling recently?
Origin / Etymology
Origin obscure. Probably from German knuddeln (“to cuddle”), related to German Knoten (“knot”) and originally meaning "embrace tightly". Compare also Swedish knulla (“to fuck”), Norwegian Bokmål knulle (“to fuck”), from Proto-Germanic *knuzlijaną (“beat, mash”) (compare the semantics of the Scandinavian cognates of fuck).
Folk etymology cites the use of two-person canoes (+ paddles) as an activity to escape the presence of a chaperon by couples during Victorian and Edwardian times, and the activities such privacy allowed.
Synonyms
canoodle, caress, chuckle, coax, cosset, dally, dandle, dawt, faddle, feel up, fond, fondle, grabble, grope, inveigle, nantle, pet, pettle, shift, smuggle, sweet-talk, tiddle, touch up, wheedle
Scrabble Score: 11
canoodle: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordcanoodle: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
canoodle: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary