v. Sc. [? Echoic. Cf. deedle in Eng. Dial. Dict.; also doodle, toodle, tootle.] trans. To sing (a tune) without words; to hum.
a. 1800[?]. Sc. Song, Had awa frae me Donald (Jam.). But rock your weeane in a scull And teedle Heelan sing, Matam.
1824. Mactaggart, Gallovid. Encycl. (1876), 444. Teedling, singing a tune without accompanying it with the words.
1827. Scott, Chron. Canongate, v. My little Highland landlady … stood at the door ‘teedling’ to herself a Highland song as she shook a table-napkin over the fore-stair.
