piddle

American  

[pid-l] / ˈpɪd l /

verb (used without object)

piddled, piddling

1. to spend time in a wasteful, trifling, or ineffective way; dawdle (often followed byaround ).

   He wasted the day piddling around.

2. Informal. (especially of children and pets) to urinate.

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verb (used with object)

piddled, piddling

1. to waste (time, money, etc.); fail to utilize (usually followed byaway ).

piddle British  

/ ˈpɪdəl /

verb

1. informal (intr) to urinate

2. to spend (one's time) aimlessly; fritter

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Other Word Forms

• piddler noun

Etymology

Origin of piddle

First recorded in 1535–45; origin uncertain

Example Sentences

It’s exciting as spectacle, but on the substance every element of the preceding sentence is piddling.

From The Wall Street Journal

There’s even a humbling sequence set in the real Carrara, where, against the quarry’s raw splendor, the mighty modern excavators look as piddling as Hot Wheels on the basement stairs.

From Los Angeles Times

Yet on a comparative basis, they are piddling.

From New York Times

Mencken points out that he’s not especially successful, that his business is “petty and piddling,” and to think of him as a leader is completely misguided.

From Los Angeles Times

It also would have reduced Hiroshima and Nagasaki to a piddling afterthought; Nolan treats them instead as a profound absence, an indictment by silence.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• loiter
• loll
• saunter