waddle
[wod-l]
- to walk with short steps, swaying or rocking from side to side, as a duck.
- to move in any similar, slow, rocking manner; wobble: The ship waddled into port.
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- an act or instance of waddling, especially a waddling gait.
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Origin of waddle
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for waddle
Contemporary Examples of waddle
That fact can be confirmed by standing on any street corner in any city of the country and watching Americans waddle by.
Historical Examples of waddle
Their walk is a waddle, and they bulge with seaming corpulency.
The Mutiny of the ElsinoreJack London
The march of the centuries may be majestic, but the waddle of this little ant of a man is not.
Jewel WeedAlice Ames Winter
Her walk was degenerating into a waddle; stairs caused her to grunt.
Tommy and Co.Jerome K. Jerome
At the time, baby was quite able to walk—at least to waddle or toddle.
The Buffalo RunnersR.M. Ballantyne
As the morning drew on, they began to waddle away towards the river.
On the Banks of the AmazonW.H.G. Kingston
waddle
- to walk with short steps, rocking slightly from side to side
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- a swaying gait or motion
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Word Origin for waddle
C16: probably frequentative of wade
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 waddle
"to walk with short steps," 1590s, frequentative of wade. Related: Waddled; waddling. The noun is recorded from 1690s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper