noddy

American  

[nod-ee] / ˈnɒd i /

noun

• noddies
  plural

1. any of several dark-bodied terns of the genera Anous and Micranous found about the coasts and islands in warm seas of both the New and Old Worlds, often so tame as to seem stupid.

2. a fool or simpleton; noodle.

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noddy ¹ British  

/ ˈnɒdɪ /

noun

1. any of several tropical terns of the genus Anous, esp A. stolidus ( common noddy ), typically having a dark plumage

2. a fool or dunce

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noddy ² British  

/ ˈnɒdɪ /

noun

1. (usually plural) television film footage of an interviewer's reactions to comments made by an interviewee, used in editing the interview after it has been recorded

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noddy ³ British  

/ ˈnɒdɪ /

adjective

1. informal very easy to use or understand; simplistic

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• noddies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of noddy

1520–30; perhaps noun use of obsolete noddy (adj.) silly. See nod, -y ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

noddy noddies

He captured this lesser noddy caught in a collosal spider's net on the Seychelles island.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2013

We saw bonito tuna in schools jumping while noddy terns dove into the water.

From New York Times ● Sep. 23, 2011

Now kings and queens poor sheep-cots have, And mate with everybody; The honest now may play the knave, And wise men play the noddy.

From English Songs and Ballads by T. W. H. (Thomas William Hodgson) Crosland

A very similar game called “Noddy” was formerly played, the game being fifteen or twenty-one up, marked with counters, occasionally by means of a noddy board.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 6 "Coucy-le-Château" to "Crocodile" by Various

The mayor may be and probably is a noddy, but his critics do not know why.

From The "Goldfish" by Arthur Cheney Train

But a staff investigation reportedly found that no fake "noddies" had ever been broadcast.

From BBC ● May 25, 2025

And if vegetation was restored to three quarters of these islands' surface area then that could lead to more than 280,000 breeding pairs of lesser noddies, sooty terns and red-footed boobies.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 18, 2024

They compared reefs next to islands with thriving populations of seabirds, such as red-footed boobies, sooty terns and lesser noddies, against reefs next to islands with few seabirds.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 6, 2023

There are also nesting colonies of roughly 100,000 sooty terns, smaller groups of great frigatebirds, black and brown noddies, white terns, and tropicbirds.

From Science Magazine ● Aug. 27, 2020

On the 8th, in the evening, one of those birds which sailors call noddies, settled on our rigging, and was caught.

From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 15 Forming A Complete History Of The Origin And Progress Of Navigation, Discovery, And Commerce, By Sea And Land, From The Earliest Ages To The Present Time by Robert Kerr