waddle

[wod-l]

verb (used without object)

waddled, waddling 

1. to walk with short steps, swaying or rocking from side to side, as a duck.

2. to move in any similar, slow, rocking manner; wobble.

   The ship waddled into port.

noun

1. an act or instance of waddling, especially a waddling gait.

waddle

/ ˈwɒdəl /

verb

1. to walk with short steps, rocking slightly from side to side

noun

1. a swaying gait or motion

Other Word Forms

• waddler noun
• waddlingly adverb
• waddly adjective
• unwaddling adjective
• waddling adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of waddle¹

1350–1400; Middle English; wade, -le; compare German watteln

Word History and Origins

Origin of waddle¹

C16: probably frequentative of _wade

Example Sentences

Play, a four-year-old French bulldog, waddled down the street in Noho.

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The usually vain and anxious mother-to-be spent her afternoons waddling contentedly through the new tulip garden.

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Her waddling gait was a snail’s pace compared to the ostrich’s swift departure, but for Mrs. Clarke it was remarkably quick.

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Mrs. Clarke had been upstairs looking for something, but now she waddled down to see what all the ruckus was about.

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They floated there, quietly cleaning their feathers, until, below the water, their webbed feet started paddling, and they swam to shore and waddled onto a pebble beach.

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Related Words

• toddle 
• totter 
• wiggle 
• wobble