doodle1
[dood-l]
- to draw or scribble idly: He doodled during the whole lecture.
- to waste (time) in aimless or foolish activity.
- Dialect. to deceive; cheat.
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- a design, figure, or the like, made by idle scribbling.
- Archaic. a foolish or silly person.
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Origin of doodle1
1625–30 in archaic sense “a fool”; 1935–40 in current senses; compare Low German dudeltopf simpleton
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for doodling
Historical Examples
"Why—its like some of the designs in his doodling," he exclaimed.
The 4-D DoodlerGraph Waldeyer
Perry looked at the table, doodling in the puddles of beer with a fingertip.
MakersCory Doctorow
Don't mind my doodling either—see the border I drew around your true name while I daydreamed and my pen was thinking for me?
The Trial of Callista BlakeEdgar Pangborn
Handy Sam, with one foot up on the table and a pencil between his toes, was doodling self-consciously on a paper napkin.
At the PostHorace Leonard Gold
When he got back to Tortha Karf's office, the Chief was awake, and doodling on his notepad with his multicolor pen.
Time CrimeH. Beam Piper
doodle
- to scribble or draw aimlessly
- to play or improvise idly
- (intr often foll by away) US to dawdle or waste time
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- a shape, picture, etc, drawn aimlessly
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Word Origin
C20: perhaps from C17 doodle a foolish person, but influenced in meaning by dawdle; compare Low German dudeltopf simpleton
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for doodling
doodle
v.
"scrawl aimlessly," 1935, from dialectal doodle, dudle "fritter away time, trifle," or associated with dawdle. It was a noun meaning "simple fellow" from 1620s.
LONGFELLOW: That's a name we made up back home for people who make foolish designs on paper when they're thinking. It's called doodling. Almost everybody's a doodler. Did you ever see a scratch pad in a telephone booth? People draw the most idiotic pictures when they're thinking. Dr. Von Holler, here, could probably think up a long name for it, because he doodles all the time. ["Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," screenplay by Robert Riskin, 1936; based on "Opera Hat," serialized in "American Magazine" beginning May 1935, by Clarence Aldington Kelland]
Related: Doodled; Doodling.
Doodle Sack. A bagpipe. Dutch. -- Also the private parts of a woman. ["Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1796]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper